By Granth Vanaik and Arriana McLymore
Extreme heat is causing companies in the United States to change the way they work. A common response: work less. Here's how heat affects several large industries and what they do about it: * Construction: Work slows down on construction projects. What normally takes two days may take three or four as builders take breaks, estimates Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. RileyWealth. Changes could include advancing the work day. The slowdown in projects could also affect companies that sell supplies, but the impact for companies like House deposit (NYSE:) and Lowe's are likely limited because builders buy in advance and projects are not canceled, Hogan added. And those retailers generate demand for air conditioners and fans. *: Oil refineries are designed to withstand high air temperatures, but their efficiency decreases. Financial services firm Macquarie Group estimates that extreme weather costs the oil industry between 1.5% and 2% of refining output annually. “Temperatures matter a lot,” said Vikas Dwivedi, global energy strategist at Macquarie. Refineries in hot climates limit the time workers spend outdoors, install hydration stations and move work shifts earlier in the day to cooler hours. Austin Lin, a former refinery worker and now an analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said he would organize the work so that arriving contractors could start projects immediately, without waiting for assignments or briefings. In extreme heat, around 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), workers can only spend about 30 minutes of the hour working and need regular breaks to stay safe. * Retail: Retailers could see increased demand for shorts and other clothing that performs well in the heat, as well as fans and air conditioners. One of the most significant changes in retail for high-heat situations involves the delivery of items ordered online. amazon says it adjusts routes on hot days to give drivers more time to cool down and offers them drink coolers in vans and water-filled covers that keep temperatures down. Meanwhile, the Teamsters union is using extreme heat to protect workers, saying unions can ensure better protection. * Transportation: The heat makes travel difficult. Aircraft wings don't generate as much lift in the heat, and flights have been reported stuck on the runway with triple-digit F temperatures inside. Railroads may limit the speed of trains for fear that heat will warp the tracks and damage engines and electrical components. * Manufacturing and storage: Companies with large buildings often condition air with systems that are less expensive than air conditioning used in homes and offices. The best answers are fans to expel hot air, fog to cool work environments, and plenty of available water. Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:), which makes airplane parts for Boeing (NYSE:), says its water-cooled system keeps maximum temperatures in its factories below 80 degrees F, and there is no impact on production. * Agriculture: Weeks of prolonged heat would be needed to reduce yields of recently planted corn and soybean crops in the US Midwest, especially with beneficial rains forecast in the coming days, analysts say. Modern row-crop agriculture requires few workers in the fields for planting, and the cabs of newer tractors are air-conditioned, mitigating human risk. But in California's central valley the grapes are grown by hand. Temperatures can range tens of degrees F in a few days, and the heat produced within the rows of grapes is four or five degrees F higher than the surrounding area, some workers estimate. Farmers try to provide additional water for both crops and humans, as well as shade. And they reduced the hours worked. * technology: In heat waves, technology companies need extra effort to cool and safeguard large data centers, which are seeing increasing demand due to the rise of artificial intelligence that relies on energy-intensive microchips. That may mean using backup generators, which data center operators like Digital Realty say can remain operational for hours, even days.
(Reporting by Gary McWilliams in Houston, Arriana McLymore in New York, Granth Vanaik, Ananya Mariam Rajesh, Zaheer Kachwala, Aditya Soni and Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru, Caroline Stauffer in Chicago; Writing by Peter Henderson in San Francisco; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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