ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship of climate to energy use and to money wage rates in the United States, and applies those relationships in predicting the effects of climate changes on real income or utility. Although energy use and wage rates are related to a number of climate variables, predictions are based solely on temperature change, one of the predicted effects of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) emissions. Sections 8.2 and 8.3 consider the relation of energy use and climate, respectively employing a sample of metropolitan data on residential electricity use, and samples of state data on residential use of electricity, natural gas, and petroleum products. In both cases, predictions are made of changed expenditures, given temperature changes ranging between −2°F and +2°F (which corresponds to a range of −1.1°C to +1.1°C. Section 8.4 relates specific occupation wage rates to climate variables, and develops predictions of changes in wage rates given temperature changes, employing metropolitan area data for both 1969 and 1975. Changes are interpreted as the amount workers need to be paid in order to compensate for a change in temperature. Section 8.5 integrates predictions and suggests topics for future research. In particular, analysis of individual areas, involving specific patterns of response, seems worth extending.
