Moving South, West can help fight global warming
Living in a warm climate is more energy efficient.
The average individual energy demand for heating and cooling has decreased over the past 50 years, according to a new study by the University of Michigan. That’s because people are moving to the temperate areas of the country – the West and Southwest – says University of Michigan Professor Michael Sivak, and it is more energy efficient to cool than to heat.
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San Diego tops the list of cities with low energy demands. Sivak found that San Diego and Minneapolis have a fourfold difference in total energy demand: annually, the average number of heating and cooling days was 1,072 in San Diego and 4,764 in Minneapolis.
The study found that the migration of the U.S. population away from the coldest areas has resulted in an 11 percent reduction in combined energy demand per person for heating and cooling since 1960.
-- Suzanne Bopp
