The latest cooling tricks, including big copper heat sinks and water-filled pipes, are not keeping up.

FORBES: Chilling Out

High demand for water amid the heat wave and problems with soil shrinking as the ground warms has resulted in burst pipes and low water pressure in Oklahoma City, prompting officials to issue mandatory water-use restrictions for the first time in at least a decade, according to utilities department spokeswoman Debbie Ragan.

CNN: Heat advisories issued to states dwindles to 15

In icy Tomsk, the potential for heat loss is even worse: astonishingly, the pipes that carry warm water around the district heating network of Seversk and Tomsk are completely uninsulated.

ECONOMIST: The time-bombs of Tomsk

It doesn't take Mr Tibble very long to find the source: "A lot of the heat down here is not just from the boiler, I would say 60-70% of the heat is from this, " he says, pointing at unclad pipes carrying hot water from the boiler.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Taking the heat out of energy costs

The authors suggest that a rapidly evolving technical to manage hydrates is to heat the pipes that carry the hydrocarbons to the surface, either through electric heaters or by circulating hot water around the outside of the pipe.

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