Heating Degree Day Data Applied to Residential Heating Energy Consumption

Abstract

Site-specific total electric energy and heating oil consumption for individual residences show a very high correlation with National Weather Service airport temperature data when transformed to heating degree days. Correlations of regional total residential electrical consumption with airport heating degree days for about 40 000 dwelling units in an area of ?6500 km2 over an 11-year period indicate that temperature is a dominant cause of short-term usage fluctuations. Cost increases since 1973 appear to have only temporarily slowed the growth rate in consumption. A time series of national population-weighted heating degree day totals for the period 1898?1978 provides a scenario of possible variations of weather-related residential energy consumption.