Americans are adapting to a warmer world — trading winter heat for summer cooling

Abstract:

Weather effects are not just confined to extreme events like hurricanes and tornadoes; seasonal temperature extremes also have huge effects on Americans’ lives. In new research Francois Cohen, Matthieu Glachant and Magnus Söderberg look at how Americans adapt their homes to protect themselves from the weather’s effects, such as during heat waves and cold spells. They find that when homes are not good enough to protect against recurrent bad weather, people invest in energy-consuming equipment to improve their comfort, currently shifting energy use away from winter heating and toward summer cooling.