West News Wire: According to government data quoted by OilPrice, the southern US has seen record-breaking summer temperatures, which have increased home electricity demand and driven up energy costs.
According to a US Energy Information Administration (EIA) research, the median American home spends around $262 year on air conditioning, but in the hot and humid southeast, those expenses have increased to $525.
The US National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) predicted in early July that summertime residential energy prices will rise by almost 12% to an average of $578 from $517 last year. Average prices ranged from $499 on the Pacific Coast to $706 in the southwest central region.
Data shows that nearly 90% of US households use air conditioning (AC), with two-thirds relying on central AC or a central heat pump as their main AC equipment. In 2020, the Midwest Census Region and South Census Region reportedly had the highest percentages of households using AC, at 92% and 93%, respectively.
“My sense is that we will have record cooling costs this summer,” said NEADA Executive Director Mark Wolfe, as quoted by USA Today. Those costs are “not as a result of prices but as a result of increased demand to address high temperatures,” explained the official for the association, which advocates for programs that help low-income families pay utilities.
The hottest month on record was July 2023, according to data from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
A “terrifying” level of climate change has been achieved, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who also noted that the period of global warming was evolving into the era of “global boiling.”
Additionally, the World Health Organisation issued a warning regarding “extreme weather events” in 2023, anticipating a sharp increase in the number of hurricanes, floods, droughts, and other natural catastrophes.
The deadliest wildfires to strike the US in over a century have now claimed 93 lives on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Josh, the state’s governor, estimates that 2,200 buildings have been damaged in West Maui, with damage prices surpassing $6 billion.
