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Childhood home temperature and community connectedness may help predict how U.S. residents adjust their thermostats, offering new ways to promote energy conservation and fight climate change, according to a study published July 3 in the journal PLOS Climate by Dritjon Gruda of the National University of Ireland Maynooth and Paul Hanges of the University of Maryland.

Half of annual U.S. household electricity use goes to heating and cooling, but fewer than half of homeowners adjust their thermostats to conserve energy throughout the day. Reducing household energy use (which takes up 21% of the US energy circle) is therefore a promising strategy for limiting national energy consumption and burning fewer fossil fuels. But first, scientists are looking for a reliable way to provide evidence for policymakers to incentivize energy conservation at home.

To investigate why US adults heat and cool their homes the way they do, Gruda and Hanges surveyed 2,128 participants who reported the average winter thermostat settings in their current and childhood homes. They also rated their emotional connectedness to their current communities, a measure called “community fit.” Researchers controlled for age, gender, and household income, and participants were representative of the US population.

Results indicated that participants’ childhood home temperatures positively predicted their current home temperatures. For example: of people who live in places with cold winters like New York, those raised in warmer homes tend to have their thermostats turned up higher than those raised in cooler homes.

The researchers also note that people with a strong sense of community are more likely to coordinate their home’s temperature settings with others in their community. For example: a New Yorker with strong community ties might keep their indoor climate cooler, while someone less enamored with the Big Apple might turn up the heat.

These results suggest that “policymakers may need to target campaigns that resonate deeply with the unique identities and values ​​of individual communities” to promote energy conservation, the researchers said.

The authors acknowledge that community connectivity may not translate directly into energy savings, particularly in affluent communities, and encourage longitudinal studies to address household income and other contributing factors.

Summarizing, the authors add, “Community fitness determines how low you set your thermostat in the winter and how much heating energy you save.”