Zohran Mamdani told millions of sweltering New Yorkers to turn their air conditioners up to 78 degrees.
Around that same time, a federal appeals court cleared the way for a mandate that goes much further than your thermostat.
New Yorkers sweating through 78 degrees indoors have no idea what disappears from their kitchen once that mandate fully kicks in.
A Climate Law Set the Trap Long Before Mamdani Ever Took Office
Mamdani posted his instructions Wednesday as temperatures across the five boroughs threatened to hit 112 degrees.
He told 8 million New Yorkers to bump their air conditioners to 78 degrees, cut off idle electronics, and unplug what they could.
He framed it as teamwork.
"A stable grid means the AC stays on, and lives are saved," Mamdani said.
But the grid strain didn't start with Mamdani.
Roger Caiazza, a meteorologist with more than 40 years of experience in the air quality industry, warned months ago that wind and solar simply cannot deliver on the state's renewable targets while still keeping the lights on reliably.
He pointed out the cruelest irony of all – the hottest days with the highest demand are often the days with the weakest wind.
That warning traces back to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a 2020 law that locked New York into a net-zero target by 2050.
A coalition called New York Renews muscled that bill through the legislature and has spent years pushing to keep it uncompromised.
The law forces the state toward a 70 percent renewable electricity mandate by 2030 and 100 percent zero-emissions power by 2040.
Texas and California have asked residents to conserve power during heat waves too, but neither state passed a law promising to eliminate the backup option.
New York did.
The Court Ruling That Reveals What Comes After Your Air Conditioner
While Mamdani was asking New Yorkers to sweat it out, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was clearing the way for something bigger.
The court upheld New York's All-Electric Buildings Act, a mandate that phases out gas hookups in new construction across the state.
That means stoves and hot water heaters get swapped for electric versions running on the very grid that already can't handle a heat wave.
New York's grid operator already projected a 446 megawatt reliability deficiency for the city starting as early as 2025, and warned the state's aging power plants are retiring faster than replacements can come online.
Republicans wasted no time connecting the dots.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Texas Rep. Brandon Gill both called out the hypocrisy of a socialist mayor lecturing working people about their thermostats while defending the climate agenda that helped create the shortage.
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh put it more bluntly.
"My AC does not go above 68 in the summer," Walsh said.
New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino told residents to go about their lives as usual and demanded officials answer for why the city lacks enough power generation if the grid buckles.
Paladino told New Yorkers to reject the request outright, arguing that nothing coming from socialists on this subject deserves the benefit of the doubt.
The Bill Is Coming Due for a Decade of Green Promises
Democrats built a climate law on the promise that wind and solar could carry New York through anything.
Now the mayor New Yorkers elected is standing in front of 8 million people asking them to sweat it out so the lights don't go dark.
New Yorkers didn't vote to freeze all winter and bake all summer just so their mayor could bail out the ideology he ran on.
That is not leadership.
That is a government that spent six years chasing a climate target while ignoring the engineers warning it couldn't be done on schedule.
That is socialism running out of other people's electricity.
Sources:
- Derek VanBuskirk, "Climate Change Extremists Leave NYC Stuck With Power Shortage," The Daily Caller, July 2, 2026.
- Andrew Mark Miller, "Mamdani gets roasted after telling sweltering New Yorkers to set ACs to 78 degrees: 'Commie'," Fox News, July 2, 2026.
- Robert Walton, "New York City could face power reliability issues beginning next year: ISO," Utility Dive, October 14, 2025.
