How does wasting electricity cause heat waves?

Heat waves do not cause power outages. They cause lots of people to run their air conditioners, or run them much longer, which puts a great demand on the electrical power supply infrastructure. read more

Wasting electricity causes more electricity to be required and therefore more electricity to be generated. More electricity generated, all else being equal, means more coal or natural gas converted into heat and carbon dioxide. Waste is not virtuous or consequence free. read more

The culprits in the waste-heat problem are not only dirty fossil fuels like coal and oil, but also some "clean" power sources like nuclear and geothermal energy, which still add to the problem by pumping new heat into the atmosphere. read more