Why do you keep your house so cold? Childhood home temperature can predict adult thermostat settings, study suggests

Childhood home temperature and community connectedness can help predict how U.S. residents set their thermostats and offer new ways to promote energy conservation and fight climate change, according to a study published July 3 in the journal Science. Climate PLOS by Dritjon Gruda of the National University of Ireland Maynooth and Paul Hanges of the University of Maryland.

Half of American households’ annual electricity use goes to heating and cooling, but fewer than half of homeowners adjust their thermostats to save energy throughout the day. Reducing household energy use (which occupies 21% of the US energy pie chart) is therefore a promising strategy to reduce domestic energy consumption and burn less fossil fuels. But first, researchers are looking for a reliable way to provide evidence for policymakers to encourage home energy savings.

To find out why US adults heat and cool their homes the way they do, Gruda and Hanges surveyed 2,128 participants who reported the average winter thermostat setting in their current and childhood homes. They also rated their emotional connectedness to their current communities, a metric referred to as “community fit.” Researchers controlled for age, gender, and household income, and participants were representative of the US population.

Results showed that participants’ childhood home temperatures positively predicted their current home temperatures. For example: people who live in cold, wintery areas like New York, those raised in warmer homes tend to turn up their thermostats higher than those raised in cooler abodes.

In addition, the researchers observed that individuals with a strong sense of community were more likely to align their home temperature settings with others in their community. For example: A New Yorker with strong community ties might keep their indoor climate cooler, while someone less in love with the Big Apple might turn up the heat.

These results suggest that “policymakers may need to focus on campaigns that resonate deeply with the unique identity and values ​​of individual communities” to promote energy conservation, the researchers said.

The authors acknowledge that community connectivity may not directly translate into energy savings, particularly in affluent communities, and encourage longitudinal studies looking at household income and other contributing factors.

The authors summarize that “Community fit determines how low you set your thermostat during the winter and how much heating energy you save.”