New Legacies: Examining the Impacts of Increasing Temperatures and Energy Burdens in America's Legacy Cities

Abstract

Extreme heat is increasingly plaguing urban environments, placing vulnerable urban populations at disproportionate risk of heat illness and energy burden. This study investigated differences in heat risk and discomfort due to extreme heat and cooling problems, and related consequences of power outages across four legacy cities: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Our overarching research questions were: 1) How many people have access to air conditioning (AC)?; 2) How many people are experiencing heat burden (thermal discomfort)?; 3) To what degree is AC used as a coping mechanism?; 4) How is cooling ability impacted by grid failure?; and 5) What are reported health impacts due to loss of AC, such as visits to the ER? For each city, we examined Public Use File microdata available at the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level from modules newly added to the 2023 American Housing Survey on heat risk, cooling problems, and power outages. We used contingency tables to correlate presence and functional status of AC with reported discomfort due to indoor heat or power outage, household behaviors of limiting use of AC due to cost, and visits to the emergency room due to indoor heat. The results showed that 87.87 to 96.5% of households had access to AC. Cleveland and Detroit had the highest proportion of residents lacking access, at 10.28% and 12.13% respectively. Between 6.24% and 8.26% of the MSAs experienced heat burden, with Cleveland (7.49%) and Detroit (8.26%) at the upper range. Coping-related results showed that access to AC did not guarantee protection from extreme indoor temperatures, energy costs did not greatly impact the use of AC, and effectiveness of AC was contingent on the home’s energy efficiency. 21.55% of Detroit households experienced power outages compared to 14.56% to 15.13% of residents in the other three MSAs. Power outages caused spoiled food, loss of refrigerated medicine, disruption to electric medical devices, displacement, and lost work. Cleveland reported the highest percentage of respondents requiring hospitalization due to heat (1.09%), followed by Cincinnati (0.98%), Milwaukee (0.94%), and Detroit (0.76%).