With millions facing heat waves nationwide, advice to set your thermostat to 82 degrees is circulating. This is the wrong kind of energy efficiency.
A system built on this kind of deprivation will never be popular. That’s a problem because heat waves pose real issues for the grid and human health. Yet lectures encouraging high temperatures at home create a climate prisoner’s dilemma. The logic pushes people to defect. I will tell you to raise your thermostat settings but leave mine at a comfortable level. For another example, several Olympic teams are bringing their own air conditioners to the Paris games. As the AP reported, teams are doing this despite it “undercutt[ing] organizers’ plans to cut carbon emissions.”
This advice has a long history. In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement clarifying that it didn’t endorse setting the thermostat to 85 degrees when away and 82 degrees when sleeping. It was merely an example, not a rule to be followed. This clarification came after the agency faced ridicule for its guidance online.
That was a clarification sorely needed. Looking at the EPA chart and the accompanying explanation, it’s hard not to see an implied recommendation that customers set a default of 78 degrees that rises four degrees to 82 each night. It’s not hard to find news reporting that both the EPA and the Department of Energy recommend setting thermostats at 78.
A high nighttime setting is strange even from a hard-nosed environmental perspective. Nighttime electricity generation portfolios trend cleaner and cheaper. In fact, Apple incorporated these grid forecasts into their iPhone charging system to automatically shift charging to cleaner periods on the grid.
Apple’s efforts are a small example of an opportunity that grid managers and policymakers should consider: flexibility. I don’t care when my phone charges overnight–I just want it to be fully charged when I wake up and get moving.
Even aggregating all the phones charging, they don’t amount to a major cause of grid problems. But larger loads can make a difference. Data centers, whether for artificial intelligence, Bitcoin mining, or anything else, are one example.
Creating avenues for data centers with flexible loads is particularly important given the oncoming wave of new data centers. LŌD, a Vancouver data center management company, is one example. They just announced a flexible load agreement that will be implemented in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Google has been investigating this for years and is finding real promise.
We’ll need a lot more than just these flexible data centers. In Texas, for example, half of peak demand is residential. Air conditioning is indeed a significant energy user. Programs that target those loads will be valuable additions to our toolkit to keep grids working.
Prosperity is energy-intensive. AC is a modern miracle enabled by that prosperity. Data centers represent the infrastructure behind other technological wonders like artificial intelligence and the internet. We need forward-thinking and innovative ideas to cool the world and clear pathways for innovation, not scarcity-induced “advice” to sweat while you sleep. We can embrace energy efficiency without sacrificing our sanity.
Fundamentally, advising people to set their thermostats to 82 degrees is the equivalent of recommending that they hand-churn butter or weave their own clothes. It’s not serious advice, and it’s not the right solution to the modern world’s energy needs. People die every year during these heat kinds of heat waves, and policymakers need meaningful responses.