Utilizing smart-meter data to project impacts of urban warming on residential electricity use for vulnerable populations in Southern California

Extreme heat events are increasing in frequency and intensity, challenging electricity infrastructure due to growing cooling demand and posing public health risks to urbanites. In order to minimize risks from increasing extreme heat, it is critical to (a) project increases in electricity use with ur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental research letters 2020-06, Vol.15 (6), p.64001
Main Authors: Chen, Mo, Ban-Weiss, George A, Sanders, Kelly T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air conditioners
Air conditioning
Census
Censuses
Climate change
Cooling systems
Electricity
Electricity meters
Extreme heat
extreme heat events
Health risks
Heat
Households
Neighborhoods
Public health
residential electricity
Residential energy
smart meter
urban warming
vulnerable population
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Summary:Extreme heat events are increasing in frequency and intensity, challenging electricity infrastructure due to growing cooling demand and posing public health risks to urbanites. In order to minimize risks from increasing extreme heat, it is critical to (a) project increases in electricity use with urban warming, and (b) identify neighborhoods that are most vulnerable due in part to a lack of air conditioning (AC) and inability to afford increased energy. Here, we utilize smart meter data from 180 476 households in Southern California to quantify increases in residential electricity use per degree warming for each census tract. We also compute AC penetration rates, finding that air conditioners are less prevalent in poorer census tracts. Utilizing climate change projections for end of century, we show that 55% and 30% of the census tracts identified as most vulnerable are expected to experience more than 16 and 32 extreme heat days per year, respectively.
ISSN:1748-9326
1748-9326
DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/ab6fbe