(Press-News.org) Childhood home temperature and community connectedness can help predict how U.S. residents set their thermostats, offering new ways to encourage energy conservation and combat climate change, according to a study published July 3 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Dritjon Gruda from the National University of Ireland Maynooth and Paul Hanges from the University of Maryland.
Half of U.S. households’ annual electricity use goes to heating and cooling, but less than half of homeowners tweak their thermostats to save energy throughout the day. Reducing residential energy consumption (which occupies 21% of the U.S. energy pie chart) is therefore a promising strategy for curbing national energy consumption and burning fewer fossil fuels. But first, scientists seek a reliable way to provide evidence for policy makers to incentivize at-home energy conservation.
To investigate why U.S. adults heat and cool their homes the way they do, Gruda and Hanges surveyed 2,128 participants, who reported the average winter thermostat settings in their current and childhood homes. They also rated their emotional connectedness to their current communities, a metric referred to as “community fit.” The researchers controlled for age, gender, and household income, and participants were representative of the U.S. population.
Results indicated that participants’ childhood home temperatures positively predicted their current home temperatures. For example: of people who live in cold-winter locales like New York, those raised in warmer homes tend to dial up their thermostats higher than those reared in cooler abodes.
Additionally, the researchers observed that individuals with a strong sense of community belonging were more likely to align their home temperature settings with others in their community. For example: a New Yorker with strong community ties may keep their indoor climate cooler, while someone less enamored with the Big Apple may turn up the heat.
These results suggest that “policymakers may need to pivot towards campaigns that deeply resonate with the unique identity and values of individual communities” to encourage energy conservation, the researchers state.
The authors acknowledge that community connectedness may not translate directly to energy savings, especially in affluent communities, and encourage longitudinal studies to address household income and other contributing factors.
Summarizing, the authors add: "Community fit determines how low you set your thermostat during winter, and how much heating energy you save."
#####
In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Climate: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000407
Citation: Gruda D, Hanges P (2024) Turn down for watt: Community fit and thermal comfort habituation predict average household heating energy consumption. PLOS Clim 3(7): e0000407. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000407
Author Countries: Ireland, United States
Funding: This work was supported by the School of Business, Maynooth University, Ireland (seed funding provided to DG). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Partial funding for open access provided by the UMD Libraries’ Open Access Publishing Fund.
END
Why do you keep your house so cold? Science says: Ask your parents
The temperature of your childhood home, among other factors, may help predict your thermostat settings
2024-07-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Texas A&M center receives $7.6 million grant to promote research in environmental health
2024-07-03
The Texas A&M Center for Environmental Health (TiCER), a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Environmental Health Sciences Core Center, will be returning to the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) with a $7.6 million grant for the center’s new funding cycle.
Under the new leadership of Dr. Weston Porter, a VMBS professor in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, the center will promote research in four areas of environmental health — climate ...
Deep machine-learning speeds assessment of fruit fly heart aging and disease, a model for human disease
2024-07-03
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Drosophila — commonly known as fruit flies — are a valuable model for human heart pathophysiology, including cardiac aging and cardiomyopathy. However, a choke point in evaluating fruit fly hearts is the need for human intervention to measure the heart at moments of its largest expansion or its greatest contraction, measurements that allow calculations of cardiac dynamics.
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham now show a way to significantly cut the time needed ...
U.S. Department of Energy issues request for proposals for contractor to manage and operate Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
2024-07-03
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the competitive selection of a management and operating contractor for the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF).
TJNAF is a DOE national laboratory and DOE-sponsored Federally Funded Research and Development Center that has a mission focused on delivering breakthrough science and technology in nuclear physics.
DOE expects to award the contract before the current agreement with Jefferson Science Associates, LLC expires on May 31, 2025, allowing for an anticipated three-month transition. DOE expects the selected ...
Survivorship standards help address the distinct needs of adult cancer survivors
2024-07-03
Key Takeaways
More people are surviving cancer than ever before and living longer. This growing population of adult cancer survivors requires distinct survivorship services focused on long-term well-being.
Survey study demonstrates the value of American College of Surgeons’ survivorship accreditation standards, though specialized services in fertility and sexual health are less accessible.
CHICAGO — With the number of adult cancer survivors in the United States expected to reach 23 million by 2032,* the long-term needs of this ...
Mighty floods of the Nile River during warmer and wetter climates
2024-07-03
Summary
Global warming as well as recent droughts and floods threaten large populations along the Nile Valley. Understanding how such a large river will respond to an invigorated hydrological cycle is therefore a pressing issue. Insights can be gained by studying past periods with wetter and warmer conditions, such as the North African Humid Period eleven to six thousand years ago. A research team of the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ, led by Cécile Blanchet, together with colleagues ...
Popular prescription weight loss drugs linked to uncommon blinding condition
2024-07-03
A new study led by investigators from Mass Eye and Ear found that patients prescribed semaglutide (as Ozempic or Wegovy) for diabetes or weight loss had a higher risk of having a potentially blinding eye condition called NAION than similar patients who had not been prescribed these drugs.
Notably, the study found people with diabetes who had been prescribed semaglutide by their physician and then filled the prescription were more than four times more likely to be diagnosed with NAION. Those who were overweight or had obesity and prescribed this drug were more than seven times more likely to get the diagnosis.
The study, which ...
COVID-19 vaccination and parent-reported symptomatic child asthma prevalence
2024-07-03
About The Study: Researchers found that higher COVID-19 vaccination rates may confer protection against symptomatic asthma in children. COVID-19 vaccination yields prophylactic benefits against SARS-CoV-2 infection for individual children and may also protect against other human coronaviruses through cross-reactive antibody responses.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., email matthew.davis@nemours.org.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.19979)
Editor’s ...
Experimental drug supercharges medicine that reverses opioid overdose
2024-07-03
The ongoing opioid epidemic in the U.S. kills tens of thousands of people every year. Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, has saved countless lives by reversing opioid overdoses. But new and more powerful opioids keep appearing, and first responders are finding it increasingly difficult to revive people who overdose.
Now, researchers have found an approach that could extend naloxone’s lifesaving power, even in the face of ever-more-dangerous opioids. A team of researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Stanford University and the University of Florida have identified potential ...
Risk of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in patients prescribed semaglutide
2024-07-03
About The Study: The findings of this study suggest an association between semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist, and nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. As this was an observational study, future study is required to assess causality.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Joseph F. Rizzo III, M.D., email joseph_rizzo@meei.harvard.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2024.2296)
Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, ...
Environmental toxicant exposure and depressive symptoms
2024-07-03
About The Study: The results of this study suggest that many common environmental toxicants are associated with depressive symptoms. This research provides insight into selecting environmental targets for mechanistic research into the causes of depression and facilitating efforts to reduce environmental exposures.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jing Li, Ph.D., email jing.li@hsc.pku.edu.cn.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.20259)
Editor’s ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Stakeholders meet to discuss national peatland impact plans for Finland, Germany, Netherlands
Physically cold, mentally strained
Consistent policy, not “patchwork” regulations, recommended for the coexistence of crops
LEDs shed light on efficient tomato cultivation
2025 Ig Physics Nobel Prize for perfect pasta sauce
Bright squeezed light in the kilohertz frequency band
Water flowed on ancient asteroid
AI model offers accurate and explainable insights to support autism assessment
Process for dealing with sexual misconduct by doctors requires major reform
Severe pregnancy sickness raises risk of mental health conditions by over 50%
Early humans may have walked from Türkiye to mainland Europe, new groundbreaking research suggests
New study shows biochar’s electrical properties can influence rice field methane emissions
Guangdong faces largest chikungunya outbreak on record
Tirzepatide improves blood sugar control in children aged 10-17 years with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on existing therapies (SURPASS-PEDS trial)
An old drug, in a low dose, shown to be safe and effective in preventing progression of type 1 diabetes in children and young people (MELD-ATG trial)
Study reports potential effects of verapamil in slowing progression of type 1 diabetes
Fresh hope for type 1 diabetes as daily pill that slows onset confirms promise at 2-year follow-up
New estimates predict over 4 million missing people who would be alive in 2025 if not for inadequate type 1 diabetes care
So what should we call this – a grue jay?
Chicago Quantum Exchange-led coalition advances to final round in NSF Engine competition
Study identifies candidates for therapeutic targets in pediatric germ cell tumors
Media alert: The global burden of CVD
Study illuminates contributing factors to blood vessel leakage
What nations around the world can learn from Ukraine
Mixing tree species does not always make forests more drought-resilient
Public confidence in U.S. health agencies slides, fueled by declines among Democrats
“Quantum squeezing” a nanoscale particle for the first time
El Niño spurs extreme daily rain events despite drier monsoons in India
Two studies explore the genomic diversity of deadly mosquito vectors
Zebra finches categorize their vocal calls by meaning
[Press-News.org] Why do you keep your house so cold? Science says: Ask your parentsThe temperature of your childhood home, among other factors, may help predict your thermostat settings