Do Electric Homes Increase Blackout Risks?

Written By Teacher: Meighan Hooper

Meighan has been an arts educator and instructional designer since 2007. Originally from Ontario, Canada, she began teaching internationally in the Middle East and Asia in 2013. Meighan has designed programs of study based on a variety of curriculum including Canadian, American standards-based, Primary Years Program (IB), and British National curriculum.

This is a great discussion starter to help students think critically about energy reliability. It’s an easy way to connect classroom learning to real-world issues, especially when major weather events dominate the news. Students can explore how climate change increases the severity of natural disasters, which in turn can strain electrical systems.

For younger students, try the "Renewable Energy Lesson: Introduction" to introduce different energy sources and how electricity reaches our homes. Older students can explore the benefits and challenges of renewables with the "Renewable Energy Lesson: Pros and Cons". These lessons make it easy to engage students in meaningful discussions about the future of energy.

Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.

“Electrify everything,” a hot topic in sustainability, means replacing all fossil-fuel-burning systems with electrically powered ones. For example, homeowners could swap gas stoves for electric ones and replace home heating systems that burn gas or fuel oil with electric heat pumps. Research scientist Pablo Duenas-Martinez of the MIT Energy Initiative says this is the best way to lower our homes’ climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions—because this way, as we make more of our electricity from clean sources like wind and solar, our stoves and heaters get cleaner, too.

Yet the electric grid that powers these stoves and heaters is vulnerable to disaster, including weather events such as major hurricanes and extreme winters storms that are growing more severe because of climate change. Does this mean a fully electrified society is at greater risk from blackouts?

Duenas-Martinez says no. In fact, all-electric homes may prove to be more resilient.