It was unbearably hot in New York City all weekend, but yesterday took the cake—and melted it in the process. When New Yorkers looking to escape the sun's abuse weren't popping hydrants open, they were overworking air conditioners and setting record-highs for energy use.
On Sunday, when it felt like 105 degrees in the city, Con Edison's electric use reached a Sunday record 11,241 megawatts at 6 p.m., topping the previous high of 10,866 megawatts set on Aug. 14, 2005. The all-time high is 13,189 megawatts, which was set on Jul. 22, 2011 at 4 p.m.
Con Edison is advising customers to be smart about using energy, suggesting that they "set thermostats no lower than 78 degrees" because every degree below that drives the cost up by 6 percents. If you think people are going to adhere to that, tell them to go stand outside at the hottest part of the day.
[via Gothamist]
