Heating Degree Days in Iowa Relative to Home Natural Gas Consumption, Conservation Efforts, and Long-Term Trends

Authors

Richard E. Carlson, Iowa State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Research

Keywords

Climate change, Climate variation, Home winterization, Conservation assessment, Heating degree days

Abstract

A methodology is presented to assess the effectiveness of conservation efforts relative to home heating. Billing period heating degree days and natural gas consumption relationships are established for a typical household for nineteen heating seasons using simple linear regression. Associated correlations (r² values) were greater than 0. 95 for nineteen different seasons. Regression coefficients (b₀ and b₁) were found to decrease with time indicating reduced natural gas consumption due to conservation efforts. Procedures are presented to illustrate dollar savings relative to conservation efforts using the regression relationships. Long-term trends for heating degree days at the Ames, Iowa weather station reveal no striking trends for the period from 1900 through 1990, but differing patterns of interannual variability are identified.

Publication Date

December 1991

Journal Title

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

98

Issue

4

First Page

159

Last Page

161

Copyright

© Copyright 1991 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

EN

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Carlson, Richard E. (1991) "Heating Degree Days in Iowa Relative to Home Natural Gas Consumption, Conservation Efforts, and Long-Term Trends," Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS, 98(4), 159-161.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/jias/vol98/iss4/4