A huge increase in the use of air conditioning will have one of the biggest and most unpredictable impacts on the world’s electricity grids in the coming decade, the International Energy Agency has said.

Researchers at the IEA, an organisation dedicated to ensuring energy security, said a combination of rising incomes in the developing world and higher temperatures from climate change meant that power used for home air conditioning units would rise by an amount greater than the entire Middle East’s electricity use today. 

The prediction came as the IEA revised up its forecasts for electricity demand, saying in its flagship World Energy Outlook report, out on Wednesday, that usage in 2035 would be 6 per cent higher than anticipated last year.