Arctic Vortex and the Electric Grid

It’s cold outside. Here in Philadelphia, they’ve started giving the temperature forecasts in Kelvin. Some people are taking it harder than others. I persevere with long underwear, two scarves, a wool hat, wool socks, and an aggressive pedestrian attitude en route to work. Phil, our tech support guy, rode his bike. Mysteriously, he now has a cold.

But our office is nice and toasty thanks to indoor heating. And apparently, we’re not the only people who set our thermostats to “defrost”. Much of the country is reporting record high levels of electricity demand for winter weather. It’s an even bigger issue in the South, where more households use electric heating. Electric heat is notoriously inefficient, and electric bills could be painfully high for some people.

Where is electric heating prevalent? Let’s take a look:

Clearly, the South is heavily reliant on electric heat, with other parts of the country using gas and oil.

Utility gas is prevalent in much of the country, including the Philadelphia/New York megapolitan area, and much of the Midwest.

Oil and kerosene are the primary heating fuels in much of New England:

This data comes from the ACS, so you can take a look at PolicyMap to see what fueling types are used in your neighborhood. The data is free to all users, and is in the “Neighborhood Conditions” menu.