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People are resilient here means that we have cheap enough energy and air conditioning as well as access to fresh water. Raise the cost of energy 100x and extrac
by IgorPartola 3y ago
People are resilient here means that we have cheap enough energy and air conditioning as well as access to fresh water. Raise the cost of energy 100x and extracting fresh water and especially air conditioning becomes less economically viable than moving. Then again, the whole desert is wide open for building large banks of solar farms.
- kgermino 3y agoOf course, if you raise the cost of energy that much heating will have more of an impact then A/C. I still think the northern US cities will be more resilient (and I do live in one) but heating isn’t cheap
- rayiner 3y agoNorthern US cities are much worse positioned than other cities. Those cities are full of old, poorly insulated houses with inadequate electrical infrastructure. No ducts for A/C, 100 amp electrical boxes, nowhere to put heat pump outdoor units, etc. It’ll be much easier for more recently built cities across the south and mountain west to go fully electric.
- IgorPartola 3y agoYou are right. But also northern cities have water. You can rebuild a house to be more energy efficient. You can’t create a river (to a first degree of approximation).
- rayiner 3y agoThe south, Midwest, and northwest also have water.
- kgermino 3y agoThe Midwest and northwest are also northern US by every definition I’ve seen.
- rayiner 3y agoThe northern US is the original thirteen colonies north of the mason Dixon line. It’s not a bare geographic term. Just as the “Midwest” is actually in the east.
- loeg 3y agoFor clarity, it might be better to just refer to that region as the northeast US.
- rayiner 3y agohttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_USA_with_state_names.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_USA_with_stat.... Geographic labels in the US are a product of history. North is the northeast. South is the south east. Midwest means the mideast (many parts of which are further east than parts of the south). The actual midwest is called the mountain region the west is actually the west. If you referred to Phoenix as a “southern US city” or Portland as a “northern US city” most people in the country would look at you weird.
- rwmj 3y agoDoesn't AC basically solve itself, if you put solar panels on your roof? It's lack of water which seems like a much larger problem.