The devastating economic toll of severe heat waves

Western Europe is faltering from the warmer temperatures has been recorded as one – third of the U.S. is amortized for heat wave own.

Disastrous heat waves are becoming more frequent with global warming – killing people, damaging infrastructure and having power supplies. A growing number of studies show that extreme heat has lasting effects not only on the health of the population, but also on local economies. Because climate change makes heat waves more severe and frequent, here are some of the effects of these temperature shocks.

Fusion infrastructures

Heat waves in temperate countries like the UK can have disastrous effects on artificial constructions that are not designed to withstand extreme heat. Less than 5% of the country’s typically cool homes have air conditioning, with builders more often concerned with retaining heat rather than repelling it.

In Luton, England, a town 30 miles north of London, record temperatures melted airport runway, closing flights for several hours. Last year’s scorching heat dome in the Pacific Northwest, another typically temperate region, broke roads, while low air quality caused a public swimming pool to close. Excess heat melted electric cables in Portland, which led the city to shut down rail service.

Elsewhere, high heat has deformed the steel tracks of the railways, slowing down passengers trains and shipments of goods.

Tense health systems

Heat greatly affects human bodies, exponentially increasing the risk of death from heat stroke or other causes.

During Europe’s 2003 heat wave, 70,000 people died, setting a sad record for the deadliest climate event in a developed country, according to Brian Stone, a professor at the Institute of Technology. Georgia. During the heat dome in the Pacific Northwest last year, 1,000 people died who otherwise would not have done so, and the number of people attending hospitals with heat-related illnesses increased by a factor of 69, said Kristie Ebi, a professor at the Center for Global Health and the Environment at the University of Washington.

“How much do lost years of life cost you?” he said, which is incalculable for the families of the people who have died. However, actuaries and government agencies place the value of an American life at about $ 10 million, making the economic toll of a heat wave quickly rise to billions even before take into account the impacts on health, labor production and food systems.

The consequences for hospitals can strain already overloaded systems, Ebi said. A Seattle hospital has nearly run out of ice in its efforts to help patients suffering from heat stroke. Another had to close his operating room for several days because he could not cool it enough to perform the surgery safely.

Reduction of production

Even when people avoid the worst effects on heat health, this takes its toll on their productivity. A recent study found that extreme summer heat reduced states ’economic output, with states’ GDP falling 0.25% for every 1 degree Fahrenheit at above-average summer temperatures.

“When it’s very hot, people don’t work as hard,” Ebi noted. However, the impact is different for different classes of workers, he said.

“People who have a salary will slow down. People who get paid for the piece have an economic incentive to keep working, and they can keep working until they get hurt,” he said. This is especially problematic for outdoor workers such as agricultural workers, delivery workers or construction workers.

Heat can even affect a worker’s future income, with studies showing that students learn less in schools on high-temperature days and that fetuses exposed to intense heat in the womb have lower incomes. when they are adults.

Reduction of agricultural productivity

Crops, like human bodies, thrive within a fairly narrow temperature range. Although a small increase in temperature can cause some plants to produce more, heat above 90 degrees Fahrenheit causes a sharp drop in yields for basic cereals such as corn, soybeans and cotton.

A recent study estimated the effects of a global temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius, which the world is expected to reach in the coming decades. With this level of warming, agricultural profitability in the eastern U.S. is down 60 percent, the study by Professor Derek Lemoine of the University of Arizona found.

This is doubly problematic when combined with drought, which often accompanies high temperatures. Nearly half of Europe is currently under a drought warning, which the European Commission said could lead to crop shortages.

Problems for shipping and industry

This week’s heat wave comes amid historically low water levels in Europe’s rivers, which are vital to freight transport.

Water levels on the Rhine, a major route linking industrial regions of Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, are the lowest since at least 1970, Cedric Gemehl of Gavekal Research said in a note. This means “very low freight traffic, bottlenecks and higher delivery costs,” Gemehl wrote. He noted that a less severe drop in 2018 caused a 15% drop in pharmaceutical and chemical production in the second half of that year.

Less water in the river means less hydropower, which is well below its typical levels in France, Italy and Spain, Gemehl said. Similarly, for industrial production and nuclear power plants in Europe, both depend heavily on river water for cooling.

While each of these problems is potentially manageable on its own, they add to existing supply drawbacks and an impending energy crisis, worsening this year’s outlook.

‘[T]The effects of the heat wave are affecting the European economy at the worst possible time, exacerbating existing supply shortages and making Europe’s energy equation even more precarious, ”Gemehl said. economic conditions, the current heat season in Europe is anything but sunny. “

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• Climate change
• Heat wave