ComputeHeatingAC_Cost: Heating and Cooling Cost Function
In msleckman/ESM262ClimatePackage: Climate Change Impacts Evaluation

Description Usage Arguments Details Value Author(s)

This function takes historical climate data with daily minimum and maximum temperatures and returns a summary of the daily cost of air conditioning (AC) and heating. The function computes the average monthly cost of heating and AC, the mean daily cost of AC and Heating, and an optional interactive graph of daily heating and AC costs across the months of the year. The costs are based on the assumed equation described in the details section.

1 2	ComputeHeatingAC_Cost(climatedata, price_heating_per_degree = 0.8, price_cooling_per_degree = 0.8, interactive_plot_selection = F)

`climatedata`	Data frame of climate data, including temperature, precipitation, water year, and dates
`price_heating_per_degree`	Cost of every incremental change in heating from the baseline (8 degrees C)
`price_cooling_per_degree`	Cost of every incremental change in cooling from the baseline (14 degrees C)
`interactive_plot_selection`	If equals TRUE, the function returns an interactive plot of the daily temperature regulation cost datapoints. The AC costs are in blue, the heating costs are in red.

The equation used to calculate the heating and cooling cost goes as the following: We assume the user will turn on the heater if the temperature maximum (tmax) is 8 degrees C. We assume the user will turn on the AC if the temperature minimum (tmin) is 14 degrees. Simply turning on the AC or the heater costs $10, and every additional degree change from the baseline (8 C or 14 C) costs a specified price_per_degree. The default is 0.8, but this can be changed by manipulating the appropriate function argument. Therefore, with a default of 0.8, with every degree increase above or below the baseline temp, the cost goes up 0.8 cents. For example, you will spend $10.8 if the average outdoor temp is 15 degrees.

Function can be used to assess how changes in long-term climate can impact the cost of human well-being through the change in costs of AC and heating.

List with the following items:

MonthlyDataframe: Data frame of the average heating and AC costs per month based on daily climate data
mean_heating_cost: Value representing the mean daily heating cost
mean_AC_cost: Value representing the mean daily AC cost
Plot: Interactive plot of costs of heating and cooling by month

Sofie McComb & Margaux Sleckman

msleckman/ESM262ClimatePackage documentation built on June 15, 2019, 2:44 p.m.