One of the flawed ideas that sits behind concerns about an overloaded grid (e.g. because heat pumps) is that the rollout of clean technology is going to be “everything everywhere all at once” (this ridiculous image is from the movie of the same name). In reality, the rollout of clean technology such as heat pumps and electric cars is going to happen far too slowly than is needed for an adequate climate decarbonisation response. It will happen sooner in some places, and later in others. This means we, society, have time to see where problems are emerging as they emerge and therefore we will have time and opportunity to identify and fix those problems.
The next time someone raises this concern about deployment of heat pumps, or solar panels, or electric vehicles, remind them that rapid deployment is exactly what we need. The truth is that clean technologies are not being deployed fast enough. They won’t arrive everywhere all at once and because of the fact we have agency and can respond to challenges in our world, as a society, we will have time to ensure these sorts of problems won’t occur.
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