Arizona, Eight Degree, ONE discussed on The Energy Gang

The Energy Gang
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So then what we actually separate those by income groups so we have the lowest income group were they on average waiting. Until it's about like seventy seventy five degrees outside to turn on their conditioning. Units and the highest income group is maybe turning on the air conditioning units sixty sixty five degrees on average and keep in mind that these are mean outdoor temperature so the temperature outside is actually a lot hotter than the mean average temperature. And so we find that there's actually like about a five to eight degree differential in terms of outdoor temperature for when people would even just start to turn on their air conditioning unit For our study area in arizona. Okay so once we've identified this. It clearly changes who we target with. I don't know whether ization programs or rebates for cooling equipment or rate structures. So how do you use this information to construct policy around. What what does it do to change the way. We're thinking about this issue. So one of the things that i think it really brings into the conversation is that there are multiple forms of energy poverty. Traditionally we've really really focused on the financial form of energy poverty. Just can't even afford to use as much or are you at risk of going into debt as you are covering your energy bills but by showing that there is this you know five to eight degrees difference. And when people even start to cool their homes we are able to identify who's putting themselves at risk of heat related illness heatstroke. I mean especially during heatwaves. These are the people that we really want to make sure that they are able to consume as much energy that they need to actually cool their home to a safe indoor environment and so i think that as we're moving forward with energy transition one of the things that we hope that this work will do is remind us that the goal of energy justice and energy insecurity is getting back to you need to consume enough energy to make.

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