Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by bromley 5050 days ago
Average temperatures aren't a great predictor of energy consumption. Yes, warmer winters mean less heating requirement, but warmer summers mean greater cooling requirement. Not such a factor for Jan-Mar in the US, admittedly.

Typically heating and cooling degree days (temperature variations integrated over time) are used to normalize energy consumption data for the weather. Not average temperatures.

1 comments

I wasn't trying to focus on energy consumption as much as the fact warming is happening in general, which isn't good. My point was the article title and data set (March - Jan) could mislead one to think global warming is reversing because of lower C02 levels from the winter. I'm saying it's likely not reversing, because the planet is warming overall and warmer summers will cause more energy production (like you said) and, overall, especially when you account for other nations, C02 production is still rising annually. Unfortunately, we only have one atmosphere and planet.