As an Engineer, I Believe Cooling Will Decide the Next Decade.

By Thomas Gal

Founder & CEO, Technic Electrical Engineering (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

VP Engineering, CONTINEWM®

I have spent most of my career working on energy systems. For years, electricity demand followed economic growth. It was predictable. It was manageable. It was linear.

That world is over.

As electricity demand rises 3.6% annually to 2030, building loads—especially cooling

According to the International Energy Agency’s Electricity 2026 report, global electricity demand is now growing faster than GDP — and this is expected to continue through 2030. Global electricity consumption is forecast to increase by approximately 3.6% per year — about 50% faster than the average of the previous decade.

 This is not a short-term spike. It is a structural shift. The IEA calls it the “Age of Electricity.” And as an engineer, I see one load quietly reshaping the entire system:

Cooling.

The Invisible Driver

When people talk about electrification, they talk about EVs, they talk about AI, they talk about data centres.

All of that matters.

But the IEA numbers show something different:

Nearly half of global electricity demand growth through 2030 comes from buildings — and a large share of that is cooling  .

Cooling is:

• Fast-growing

• Temperature-driven

• Highly synchronous

• Difficult to shift

• Directly linked to peak load

When a heatwave hits, millions of air conditioners turn on at once. Demand spikes immediately. Grids strain instantly.

Cooling-driven peak loads are reshaping electricity systems, with temperature increases of +1°C

This is physics — not behaviour.

This is why cooling is no longer just a building issue. It is a system stability issue and it defines the next decade of power-system evolution.

Cooling vs EVs: What Really Drives Power Demand Evolution?

The IEA data shows that:

• The buildings sector contributes nearly half of total global electricity demand growth to 2030.

• Transport (including EVs) contributes around 10%.

Buildings—includBuildings are projected to drive nearly half of electricity demand growth to 2030, c

More importantly:

• EV charging is flexible and increasingly managed.

• Cooling demand is synchronous, temperature-driven and immediate.

When a heatwave hits, millions of air-conditioning systems turn on simultaneously. Demand spikes within minutes. Grids are stressed instantly.

EV charging can be shifted.

Cooling cannot — without sacrificing comfort or safety.

This is why cooling.

Grids Cannot Expand Fast Enough

The IEA also highlights that more than 2,500 GW of projects worldwide are currently stuck in grid connection queues  . Grid investment must increase by roughly 50% by 2030 just to keep pace. But infrastructure takes years. Heatwaves take hours.

Over 2,500 GW are stuck in connection queues, requiring ~50% more grid investment by 2030.

As electricity becomes a larger share of final energy consumption (projected to rise from 21% to 24% by 2030  ), we must confront a simple reality:

Electricity’s share of global energy rises from 21% in 2025 to 24% by 2030.

We cannot build our way out of this challenge fast enough.

We must reduce demand intelligently.

Why CONTINEWM® Exists

When Professor Ryuji Sakai developed and scaled CONTINEWM®, we were not chasing trends. We were solving a practical engineering problem:

How do we improve HVAC system performance without replacing the system?

How do we reduce energy consumption without reducing comfort?

How do we improve air quality without increasing electricity use?

CONTINEWM® is a passive technology.

It integrates into existing HVAC systems.

It improves heat exchange performance.

It reduces energy consumption.

It stabilises airflow behaviour.

And it does this without:

• New compressors

• New refrigerants

• Complex retrofits

• Operational disruption

In today’s context, that matters more than ever. Because cooling efficiency is no longer marginal. It is strategic.

CONTINEWM® improves HVAC efficiency and reduces peak load amid rising cooling demand

CONTINEWM® delivers four strategic benefits:

1. Immediate Cooling Demand Reduction

Lower electricity consumption in the fastest-growing load segment.

2. Peak Load Mitigation

Reduced stress during extreme heat — when systems are most fragile.

3. Affordability Without Sacrifice

Energy savings without compromising comfort or air quality.

4. Virtual Grid Capacity

Every kilowatt-hour saved is capacity that utilities and governments do not need to build.

My Perspective as an Engineer

I graduated from École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers with a simple belief: Engineering should solve real problems. Today, the real problem is not simply generating more electricity. It is managing demand under climate volatility.

In parts of China, cooling accounts for up to 40% of summer peak load.

In India, peak demand has increased more than 50% in recent years.

In the Middle East, cooling defines national electricity curves.

These are not abstract statistics. These are system stress indicators. And they are growing.

Efficiency Is Becoming Infrastructure:

For decades, energy efficiency was treated as a secondary measure.

Nice to have.

Optional.

Often postponed.

That mindset is obsolete.

In the Age of Electricity:

• Efficiency reduces peak load.

• Efficiency protects affordability.

• Efficiency strengthens resilience.

• Efficiency avoids infrastructure investment.

• Efficiency reduces emissions immediately.

Every kilowatt-hour saved by improving HVAC performance is:

• Grid capacity that does not need to be built.

• Fuel that does not need to be burned.

• Carbon that does not need to be emitted.

• Cost that does not need to be paid.

That is why I believe cooling efficiency will define the next decade.

Cooling efficiency is one of the fastest solutions to rising electricity demand

A Question We Must Ask Ourselves

As electrification accelerates, as cities get hotter, as grids tighten, and as energy prices remain volatile, I often ask a simple question:

Because in a power-hungry world, the fastest energy resource is the one you don’t consume.

At TEET Energy and CONTINEWM®, our mission is not to replace infrastructure. It is to make it perform better.

Quietly.

Efficiently.

Scientifically.

The Age of Electricity is here.

And cooling efficiency will decide who leads — and who struggles to keep up.