The disclosure herein provides for heat dissipation switches and systems, as well as their use for dissipating excess heat from a heat source. Various aspects of a heat dissipation switch may include a thermally isolating material having a number of conductive element cavities. A number of thermally switched conductive elements may nest within the conductive element cavities either independently or as part of a thermally switched sheet. The material of the thermally switched conductive elements may be configured to deform in response to a temperature change through a threshold temperature or temperature range in order to create or interrupt heat flow paths from the heat source to a heat sink.