How Expensive is HVAC?
Examining HVAC cost and consumption across different US States.
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Introduction
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is a staple of modern life. An HVAC is in charge of regulating the temperature of a space. Whether it be heating or cooling, in a house or vehicle, HVAC is responsible for it all.
Observe gradual increase in AC usage as time progresses.
Due to its convenience and overall utility, the HVAC has spread extremely rapidly. By 2020, nearly 90% of all American households have an AC system, with over 66% of homes having a separate centralized AC system. Similarly, heating is a necessity in excessively cold states, like Alaska, that reach temperatures below freezing. Given that temperature control is such a necessity in present day homes, it is unsurprising that HVAC accounts for over 30% of all household energy usage.
Reducing energy consumption is one of the most actionable ways that everyday people can contribute to the conservation effort. And further focusing on HVAC specifically, will further our understanding of what actionable steps, in the context of HVAC, we can take to contribute to the conservation of our planet’s resources.
Temperature
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Annual State temperatures from 1971 to 2000. Note that average temperature includes night-time temperature meaning that numbers are lower than average daytime temperature.
Above is a map of the average temperature across all 50 US States using data taken from 1971 to 2000. As seen, the average temperature varies heavily. Some states have an average temperature below freezing, while others are into the mid 70’s. This graph highlights a few key topics that should be kept in mind:
Above is a map of the average temperature across all 50 US States using data taken from 1971 to 2000. As seen, the average temperature varies heavily. Some states have an average temperature below freezing, while others are into the mid 70’s. This graph highlights a few key topics that should be further examined.
- How temperature impacts HVAC usage. If it is colder, will the heater be used more often, and vice versa, will the AC be used more often if the state has a warmer climate?
- How the price between heating and cooling varies between different states. Because the heater or AC unit will be used less often, will the unused appliances cost comparatively more to use?
- The overall usage of HVAC, and how it varies household to household, state to state. Are there some places that don’t use HVAC, and are there any factors besides simply temperature?
- The overall cost of HVAC, and the distribution of cost throughout the different states. Some states are notoriously expensive while others are notoriously cheap. Given this, how will overall costs of running HVAC vary from state to state.
Essentially, the goal is to understand how factors like daily temperature, HVAC usage, and overall costs intertwine to get the HVAC we know and love today. Once we understand how these factors collaborate, we can figure out ways to incorporate them into a plan to reduce energy usage.
State's average kilowatt-hour (kWh) energy consumption on HVAC per household. The color correlates to heating or cooling usage, and the size represents average energy usage per household.
Usage
The first correlation that the map shows is between temperature and the energy expenditure between heating and cooling. Unsurprisingly, the warmer states like Hawaii, Florida, and Louisiana expended more energy on AC rather than heating. Similarly, colder states, as seen in the northern region of the US, use far more energy heating rather than cooling their homes. One note to keep in mind is that heating is generally far more expensive than cooling. This means that the states with more equally distributed HVAC energy consumptions likely ran the AC more than the heater, despite their energy consumption being the same.
Another thing that might stand out is Hawaii's and Alaska's polarized heating and cooling distribution. The warmest state Hawaii expends little to no energy on heating, while the coldest state Alaska expends little to no energy on cooling. This aligns with the previous conclusion that temperature correlates to the distribution between heating and cooling, however, no other states had such an overwhelming difference. Upon further investigation, this is due to many homes in Hawaii and Alaska not even having AC and heating units respectively since they don't need it in the first place. This would account for the large difference in heating and cooling usage in these states, as they don't have heating or cooling units to expend energy in the first place.
An alternate factor to consider is the average household energy expenditure, the size of the bubbles, in each of the states. I emphasize that the size of the bubbles is not how much energy the total state consumes, but the average household energy consumption of that state.
The extremely small sized states near the top right of the US like New York, Maryland, and Rhode Island expended less energy per household. This is likely due to the average houses being densely populated in small units, meaning that less energy would be needed to heat up or cool down the smaller room. This would also explain why the midwest sees larger circles. Their larger and more rural households would be bigger, and expend more energy to heat and cool.
Outside of that observation, it seems that size of state bears no other relationship to average household HVAC expenditures. Large sized states like Alaska or California, 586,000 and 156,000 square miles respectively, expend less energy on HVAC, per household, than smaller sized states like Pennsylvania, a grand total of 45,000 square miles. Moreover, the population also seemed to have no correlation to expenditures per household. Populated areas like New York, California, or Florida had lower averages than less-populated states like Kentucky or West Virginia. The opposite is also true with more populated states like Texas and Florida expending more average energy than less populated states like Utah or New Mexico.
Overall, it would seem that the primary driver of HVAC energy usage is temperature, and outside of temperature, no other factors play a significant role in the average household's energy expenditure on HVAC systems.
Total HVAC Energy Expenditure in each State (Billions USD). Larger and darker circles means higher cost.
Cost
The total energy expenditures seem to be relatively straightforward: higher population means higher cost.
The four most populated states in America are Texas, Florida, California, and New York. The four states that spent the most on HVAC energy were also Texas, Florida, California and New York. On the flip side, states with low populations all have miniscule expenditures on overall HVAC costs. There Is a clear connection between population and the state’s HVAC expenditure.
The reason why population is directly proportional to the cost is because, at the simplest level, the calculation for overall expenditure is “HVAC uses multiplied by cost per HVAC usage”. To reiterate, the more times an HVAC is used, the higher the cost.
Nearly 90% of all American households have an HVAC system. This means that the more people, and therefore more households, in a state would naturally raise the HVAC usage, since almost everyone has and uses an HVAC.
There is, however, another factor in that formula: cost per HVAC usage. It would be logical to assume that average cost would also play a crucial role in overall state expenditure. Yet after further examination, it seems like the average usage state by state, is completely negligible when faced with the overwhelming number of people and number of HVAC uses in more populated states.
To exemplify this, we can compare California and West Virginia. Looking back at the average energy consumption per household map above, it is clear that West Virginia (7,954 kWh) uses far more energy per household than California (2,667 kWh). Despite West Virginia overwhelmingly exceeding the average cost of California, when observing the total expenditures map, it is California that overwhelmingly exceeds West Virginia in total expenditures. This is because the population is just so different. While West Virginia has less than 2 million inhabitants, California boasts a population of just over 39 million people. No matter how efficient California is, nor how inefficient West Virginia is, it will ever result in West Virginia using more energy than California. There are 20 times more people in California than in West Virginia meaning that California needs to be 20 times more efficient than West Virginia before their total expenditures can even be close. From this comparison, it is fair to conclude that the total energy cost is primarily the population, with other factors like average energy consumption being mostly negligible.
State geographical size is another factor that conservationists might expect to affect total energy costs. In spite of this, further analysis shows no real correlation between size and energy costs. Big states like Alaska can, ironically, have lower expenditures than states as tiny as Rhode Island. The opposite is also true with Texas unsurprisingly having higher expenditures than a small state such as Maryland. Size of the state clearly has no real effect on overall expenditures, however, there seems to be an odd pattern that has no real explanation: as you diverge from the top left of the US, the overall state's expenditure tends to increase. This would seem more so like a coincidence given that the midwest and upper regions of the US are all more rural areas. Bringing it back to the population, rural areas will have lower populations, which means lower HVAC expenditures.
One observation outside of purely population, are the outliers of Alaska and Hawaii. Similar to the previously mentioned low energy consumption levels, Alaska and Hawaii also have abnormally low energy expenditures. This is likewise due to the lack of heaters and AC systems respectively. Homeowners don't have to pay for an entire portion of the “Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning” system, consequently decreasing their HVAC expenditures.
Overall, the population of the state is what dictates the state’s total expenditure on HVAC systems.
Conclusions
Factors of temperature, population and culture all play a role in the energy consumption and expenditures of HVAC systems. Despite all of them contributing, some factors are more influential than others.
The primary driver for HVAC usage is unsuprisingly the temperature. Colder areas will use more heating, while warmer areas will use the AC more often. In addition, more rural or suburban areas, as seen particularily in the midwest, tend to have higher average household expenditures. This is due to having comparitively larger homes needing more energy to heat or cool down.
The primary driver for a state's expenditure is purely population. Because nearly every household has an HVAC, the more people and households in a state will increase the HVAC costs. Therefore regardless of other factors like the average cost per household or temperature, population is what drives the HVAC expenditure of a state.
From this information, we can figure out what states can have the most impact on HVAC reduction. States with both high average household consumption, as well as high overall state expenditures are the best to focus on. This is because their average household uses HVAC innefficiently, and they have a lot of people using HVAC meaning they can do a lot of harm to the environment.
A few noticible states to focus on would be Texas and Florida since they have large total expenditures, as well as relatively high household consumption rates. Targeting these states first, would have the overall most benifit in reducing the negative impacts caused by HVAC usage.
It is important that even though Texas and Florida would have the most impact in the conservation effort, anyone in any other state, or country for that matter, would have tremendous impact on the environment. We all have a part to play in helping our environment, and we can do so with the following implementations.
Implementations
Opening the windows is an important tool to reduce HVAC usage. If the temperature will be warmer later in the day, it is a good idea to open the windows in the morning to cool down the house. This will preserve a cool household, reducing the need to turn on the AC later. This works with heating too. In the wintertime, keeping the windows closed the entire day, even during noon when it might be a comfortable temperature outside, will preserve the heat inside the house and reduce the need for heating. Conserving the heat or cold that already exists in the house, and being more conscious of how the temperature will change throughout the day is extremely important to conserving energy usage.
Changing what you wear is another pretty self-explanatory and easy to implement energy saving measure. Rather than turning on the heater, simply put on another layer to accomplish the same end goal of being warmer without the need to use more energy. And vice versa, if it is too hot, taking off a few layers or changing what you wear could be enough to make you feel cool again.
Upgrading your HVAC system to be more energy efficient is another step you could take. Older models are less efficient, less cost effective, and have less emphasis on energy conservation. With newer models being more environmentally friendly, choosing to purchase one will help reduce emissions, and have the added bonus of being more cost effective.
Out of all the different home appliances, HVAC is the one that consumes the most energy. Therefore, by taking these inherently small steps in reducing HVAC usage, our society can make huge leaps in conserving our planet's environment and resources.
HVAC is the home appliance that consumes the most energy. Therefore, by taking these inherently small steps in reducing HVAC usage, our society can make huge leaps in conserving our planet's environment and resources.
Internship Reflections
Overall, I had a really great time throughout the entire internship, and first and foremost, I would like to say that I really appreciate the people from Trubel&Co and the Energy Coalition who took the time out of their days to host workshops and mentor me.
What initially drew me in was an interest in ArcGIS and how it could visualize data in a way that I hadn’t seen before. By the end of these past few months, not only have I learned how to use ArcGIS, but I also learned so much more about how much energy and water we use, and how this knowledge can be applied to conserve our resources. It also reinforced my previous knowledge working with spreadsheets and presentations, and gave me an opportunity to work with these applications outside of school. Another great thing about the internship was the flexibility I had. The majority of the lessons and topics were asynchronous, meaning I could finish them at any time and any place. I was out of town for almost two weeks, and because the work was primarily asynchronous, I still found time to get work done. I once again want to thank everyone who provided me with this opportunity, and taught me so many new things.