Extreme heat may lead to power loss in some sections of the nation, as demand exceeds supply VIDEO CNN's Bill Delaney looks at how the heat wave may affect the country's power supply Windows Media 28K 80K  ALSO: Another scorcher U.S. drought worsens Sizzling summer not hot proof of global warming, scientists say Heat blamed for deaths of 50 cows on cargo plane Older people are more vulnerable to heat Beat the heat while you stay healthy and fit  Heat Index: A value of how it feels outside when the effect of humidity is combined with the actual temperature Computed in shady conditions - direct exposure to sunshine can increase the heat index by as much as 15 degrees.

July 28, 1999
Web posted at: 3:34 p.m. EDT (1934 GMT)

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BOSTON (CNN) -- This summer's withering heat has forced some power companies to warn they are on the brink of running out of electricity. And just because it hasn't happened near you doesn't mean it won't in the future.

A recent study by New York-based Allied Business Intelligence, a technology research firm, predicts that in the next 10 years, a growing strain on energy resources in the United States will lead to power shortages everywhere except Middle America -- with deadly results.

"Lives are always lost during heat waves. It's the weakest, the sick, elderly," says ABI analyst Michael Kujawa. "Air conditioners will go off in some critical situations ... and the numbers will go up."

He expects blackouts and brownouts that "will last for days."

Why?

For one thing, blame the booming economy.

With new, bigger private homes going up and half a million new commercial buildings built every year, energy demand is outpacing supply.

And what excess energy may exist in one part of the country is often difficult to move to another. By 2007, according to ABI, up to 150 gigawatts (150 billion watts) of new energy capacity will be needed in the United States.

Plans now call for meeting only half that demand, a situation critics call the result of dangerous short-term thinking.

In the 23 states where electric utilities have been deregulated, most energy is now supplied by companies that broker their services for prices that rise and fall with demand.

Why invest in a new power plant, the business person might ask, when more energy suppliers means more competition, driving prices down.

But it's an argument that doesn't hold up, say officials who oversee New England's energy market.

"We have 30,000 megawatts of new capacity that's either being built, permitted or under construction," says Stephen Allen of Independent System Operators. "That's a record amount."

"It's all clean, natural gas power plants," Allen told CNN. "The future has never looked better."

Still, analysts say New England's power grid nearly crashed during a heat wave last month.

And there's plenty of summer left.

Correspondent Bill Delaney contributed to this report.

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