It follows Republican outrage over Mamdani offering the same heatwave advice as everyone else.
The US Department of Energy reportedly deleted about 6,000 pages related to energy conservation as a historic heatwave tears across the country.
The deletion was suspiciously timed, following Republican outrage over Mayor Zohran Mamdani asking New Yorkers to help reduce strain on the grid by setting their AC to 78 degrees. Republicans like Ted Cruz (who has famously fled severe weather in his home state), Nikki Haley, and Representative Nancy Mace (South Carolina) quickly pounced, framing the request as socialism and an act of war on women in menopause (the Republican Party is notoriously friendly to women’s health).
Of course, this is pretty standard advice during a heatwave. It was the official stance of the Department of Energy that Americans should set their thermostats between 75 and 78 degrees, and Republican governors in deep red states like Texas have issued the same advice in the past — including current governor Greg Abbott.
It doesn’t even have to be about climate change. It’s also about balancing the electrical load of everyone in NYC blasting their AC at once. So they don’t have brown and blackouts
I get this, a solid point esp in high demand areas.
A lot of the people making these decisions are also not individual people but building managers for corporations and other businesses.
IMO the reason the feds issue most these kinds of guidances is so managers can point at them and say “I’m just following best practice, don’t yell at me”
Another solid point I can appreciate that.