U.K. government could remotely disable home heating or cooling

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that by the end of next year, British energy suppliers will be able to remotely turn down household heat pumps to help manage grid demand during winter cold snaps. Ezra Levant walked through what giving the government that ability means on Monday’s episode of The Ezra Levant Show, warning viewers where net-zero policy is actually headed.

Heat pumps, Ezra explained, are not furnaces. They move heat rather than generate it, which makes them energy-efficient in mild climates. But when temperatures drop below -20°C, they become effectively useless, something even the Weather Network has acknowledged.

An advertisement for heat pumps from BC Hydro came across more like a piece of Liberal Party propaganda rather than displaying a product, Ezra said.

“There’s a reason governments have to pay people thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars to take one,” he said. “I’ve never heard of a popular product in history that needed a subsidy to sell.”

The United Kingdom’s problem is now more acute than just product performance, however. Under a scheme being developed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero — Ezra noted the irony of that name — licensed energy suppliers including Octopus Energy and British Gas will be able to remotely restrict heat pumps via internet connection during periods of peak demand.

Over 223,000 heat pumps are already installed in British homes, and all installations since April 2025 must be internet-connected. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has set a target of 450,000 installations per year by 2030.

“They won’t just have the ability to turn off the heat to your home,” Ezra cautioned. “They could turn off your car if it’s electric.”

Giving the government this ability is akin to a Chinese Communist Party-style social credit system — only by another name. “Do you think Ed Miliband would ever have his car turned off? Or just the little people?”

In the European Union, a Politico headline details how EU Commission headquarters was forced to shut down air conditioning amid a heatwave.

Reading further, Ezra found that only floors one through seven lost cooling — while Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the 13th floor and her commissioners on floors eight and above kept full air conditioning throughout.

“The important people had air conditioning,” he said. “They literally made the junior staff sweat it out in the heatwave.”

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25 People Dead in New Jersey Amid Sweltering Heat Wave – Deceased Found in Homes with No Air Conditioning

At least 25 people died in New Jersey since Thursday amid a sweltering heat wave.

Temperatures soared into the triple digits over the Fourth of July holiday weekend in New Jersey, New York, DC and other East Coast states.

Power outages in New Jersey and New York reportedly affected 1 million customers.

According to officials, many of the deceased were found in their homes with no air conditioning.

Some people were discovered outside of their homes or in parked cars.

“Unfortunately, many of these individuals were found in homes without air conditioning,” New Jersey Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington said on Saturday.

“A few were outside their residences, some on the street and some even in parked cars,” he said.

The heat-related deaths occurred in central and northern New Jersey.

ABC News reported:

At least 25 people are suspected to have died in New Jersey from the sweltering, multi-day heat wave that has enveloped a large portion of the country leading up to and over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, officials said.

New Jersey officials said at a news conference that the deaths were caused by the heat dome that had settled above parts of the central and eastern United States.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said that thunderstorms on Friday night and over the weekend across the state knocked out power to nearly 300,000 utility customers and that wind gusts of up to 80 mph toppled trees and power lines.

New Jersey officials said they began seeing what they believe are heat-related deaths as early as Thursday, with most occurring in the central and northern parts of the state.

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani Ordered New Yorkers to Cut Back on AC — But City Hall Was Kept as Cold as 54 Degrees

New York City Hall was kept as cold as 54 degrees during this week’s heat wave, despite Mayor Zohran Mamdani urging residents to set their air conditioners to 78 degrees to reduce strain on the power grid.

According to an investigation by the New York Post, reporters measured temperatures at 20 locations inside City Hall and other municipal buildings using an infrared thermometer.

All but five locations were below the 78-degree level Mamdani had urged New Yorkers to follow.

Around noon, areas including the Rotunda, the Governor’s Room, the City Council chambers and hallways near the mayor’s office reportedly measured around 77 degrees, while the mayor’s first-floor press office registered 78 degrees.

As the day progressed, temperatures reportedly dropped further.

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Conservative Catches CNN Host Abby Phillip in a Glaring Hypocrisy as She Defends Communist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Absurd Demand on Air Conditioning

Notorious CNN host Abby Phillip’s efforts to defend communist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s demand for air conditioning went sideways when one of her guests caught her in a huge hypocrisy.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Mamdani on Wednesday requested that New Yorkers set their thermostats to 78 degrees. He claimed this was to alleviate stress on the energy grid.

Temperatures are soaring into the triple digits in the Midwest and East Coast this week and into the July 4th holiday weekend.

“The best protection against extreme heat is air conditioning, he added. If you don’t have it at home, know now where you’ll go to stay cool. Check in on your neighbors, especially seniors, and if you see someone outside who appears to be in distress, call 311 so we can get help to them.

“This administration is using every tool we have to keep New Yorkers safe, but the strongest city is one where neighbors look out for one another. And to every business owner, please set your thermostats to 78 degrees to alleviate the stress on our grid.”

Of course, we all know the Gracie Mansion (where Mamdani lives) will be fully air-conditioned. According to Marxists like him, the rules should apply only to the masses.

Phillip, though, saw Mamdani’s demands as reasonable. During her show last night, she repeatedly cited then-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s similar requests from a 2015 heat wave in the Palmetto State as a reason to let New Yorkers suffer.

Conservative guest Ben Ferguson then challenged Phillip by asking whether she raised the temperature in her home in solidarity with Mamdani. This caused the panel to go off the rails.

After the shouting died down, Ferguson dropped a bombshell: the CNN studio they were debating in was nowhere near 78 degrees.

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Air Conditioning Bans Are Latest Example Of Climate Alarmism Damaging Lives

Germany’s public broadcaster ARD has recently rolled out an “anti-AC campaign,” alarming citizens about the supposed “dangers” of air conditioning. This initiative seems particularly misguided as Europe grapples with a severe heat wave that has compelled governments to close schools, shut down iconic tourist sites, reduce business hours, and, most tragically, led to dozens of fatalities.

What’s happening in Europe is the grim outcome of two decades steeped in climate dogma: minor inconveniences have transformed into rigid policies and cultural norms that prioritize emission reductions over human survival.

For the past 20 years, we have been told that climate change poses the greatest existential threat to humanity. We have been urged to take immediate action, even if it means sacrificing comfort and convenience, to avert catastrophe. The initial proposed solutions included silly but manageable changes, such as banning plastic grocery bags and paper straws. However, the demands have escalated to campaigns  aimed at drastically reducing meat consumption, increasing calls to restrict gas stoves, and government mandates encouraging drivers to switch from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles.

Many of these measures have caused daily inconveniences. We’ve learned to sip drinks quickly before paper straws dissolve. Others have raised the cost of living: electric stoves are typically more expensive than gas ones, and EVs can lose significant range in extreme heat or cold — as seen in viral videos of “dead” vehicles stranded at Chicago charging stations during subzero winters. We also face higher electricity bills and rolling blackouts as utilities shutter coal and gas plants in favor of intermittent solar and wind. In one case, a utility company even remotely took control of smart thermostats for thousands of Colorado households during peak summer heat, leaving homeowners powerless to intervene.

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AC Feudalism: EU Headquarters Only Kept Air Conditioning on For Floors With Top Eurocrats

The governing body of the European Union has been accused of holding a neo-feudalist mindset after it was reported that only certain areas of its building in Brussels kept air conditioning running during last week’s record-breaking heatwave.

According to a POLITICO report, the EU Commission’s Berlaymont building in Brussels turned off air conditioning on floors one through seven last week “due to extreme weather conditions”.

However, the outlet claimed that air conditioning remained on for floors eight through 13, where EU President Ursula von der Leyen and her 26 commissioners work.

This led to accusations that the unelected Eurocrats were prioritising their own comfort over the working people who staff the building.

One official who works on the bottom floors remarked, “It’s like feudalism,” while another employee said that it was a “disgrace”.

However, one staffer on the eighth floor claimed they did not fare much better, saying temperatures on the floor still reached 25.7°C (78.26°F) on Friday.

Nevertheless, the report has sparked criticism for the Commission, including from a left-wing Member of the European Parliament for Belgium, Marc Botenga, who said that the “contempt” shown for its own civil servants illustrates an overall “lack of respect for workers”.

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Sociopaths at Time Magazine Want to Banish Air Conditioning

Far-left Time Magazine, one of the country’s chief conspiracy theorists pushing the Climate Change Hoax, openly advocates having air-conditioning banished.

In a lengthy piece of hysterical, anti-science scare-mongering that tries to turn the greatest life-saving, quality of life-improving invention since penicillin into a racist (that’s not a joke) villain, Time comes right out and says it — and naturally does so from its air-conditioned offices (I don’t link junk science):

The troubled history of air-conditioning suggests not that we chuck it entirely but that we focus on public cooling, on public comfort, rather than individual cooling, on individual comfort. Ensuring that the most vulnerable among the planet’s human inhabitants can keep cool through better access to public cooling centers, shade-giving trees, safe green spaces, water infrastructure to cool, and smart design will not only enrich our cities overall, it will lower the temperature for everyone. It’s far more efficient this way.

To do so, we’ll have to re-orient ourselves to the meaning of air-conditioning. And to comfort. Privatized air-conditioning survived the ozone crisis, but its power to separate—by class, by race, by nation, by ability—has survived, too. Comfort for some comes at the expense of the life on this planet.

It’s time we become more comfortable with discomfort. Our survival may depend on it.

Okay, number one: fuck you. Number two: fuck you. Number three: Climate Change, Global Warming, or whatever they’re calling it today, is a hoax. Climatologists, scientists, and other so-called experts are 0-44 with their alarmist climate predictions, so let me assure you that if you try to take my air conditioning away based on fake prediction number 45, things are going to get ugly. Real ugly. Number four: Did I mention, fuck you?

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