ABSTRACT
Several studies have been made of the linkages between weather conditions and electricity consumption. The natural resources of water and geothermal steam are harnessed to provide a substantial proportion of New Zealand’s electricity requirements, but an increasingly important source is obtained by coal, oil, and gas fired ‘thermal’ stations. Weather conditions clearly have an important impact on electricity consumption. A major component of the weekly indicators of economic activity published in the United States, such as those in Business Week, is electric power production. In many countries there is an increasing demand for electricity as a result of the growth of air-conditioning in houses, offices, and factories. The effects of weather on the total retail trade of a country are also of considerable importance, and can in fact pose difficult problems for economists trying to explain variations in certain key economic indicators. The effects of the weather on highway construction were estimated through their influence on working conditions.
