Sep 23, 2026 · 32 min
Clean power must meet rising demand without sacrificing access
Power under pressure: Can energy security, affordability and net zero still move together? | From Climate Week NYC
As cooling, electrification, data centers and economic development drive electricity demand higher, energy systems must improve security and affordability while cutting emissions.
- 1Efficiency and flexible demand can reduce pressure on grids as heating, cooling and electrification expand.
- 2The United Kingdom’s changing power system shows why renewable growth requires coordinated operations, planning and investment.
- 3Emerging economies need far more electricity access, making solar, storage and supportive policy alternatives to diesel generation.
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Damilola Ogunbiyi shifts the frame from wealthy countries’ transition pressures to the billions who still need dramatically more energy access, arguing for solar, storage and supportive markets instead of diesel lock-in.
The brief
Rising demand from cooling, electrification, data centers and economic development is testing whether grids can expand without deepening fossil-fuel dependence.
Damilola Ogunbiyi makes efficiency central to the response, while Kayte O’Neill describes the National Energy System Operator’s challenge of keeping Britain’s island grid reliable through 2050.
David Calabrese argues that HVAC equipment, especially heat pumps and connected systems, sits at the intersection of building emissions, electricity demand and flexible grid management.
The discussion widens beyond wealthy countries: Nigeria and other emerging economies need dramatically more access, but solar, inverters and storage could help avoid diesel lock-in.
The central argument is that security, affordability and decarbonization are not competing goals when efficiency, flexible demand, planning and workforce investment move together.