In pursuit of room temperature: energy, colonialism, and the history of comfort in the United States

Why is “room temperature” defined the way it is, and why have household temperatures in the United States been higher than contemporaries across history? Surprisingly, both go back to colonial times. I explore the history and geography of how Americans have heated their homes across multiple energy transitions. In the colonial United States, household energy use was vastly higher than any contemporary country—the country's abundant fuelwood a product of settler colonial genocide (and the resulting reforestation of indigenous cropland and villages). But the trend of higher household energy use than Europeans continued through an age of coal stoves and oil and gas boilers, indicative of a lasting and uniquely American idea of comfortable temperatures. At the same time, as Americans turned to newer and more convenient fuels to meet their hunger for home heating, the materiality of new energy technologies profoundly reshaped urban landscapes. Property sizes and household privacy grew, while household chores around heating declined. In summary, the cultural ideal of settler colonial warmth survived and spurred repeated transformations of cityscapes, from city growth to suburbanization.

Robert Suits is Lecturer in Environmental History at UCL. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Calgary and at the University of Edinburgh. His work focuses on energy, climate, and labour. His forthcoming book, The Hobo: An Environmental History, explores how migrant work in the industrial United States developed in response to energy transitions and climate disasters.

All welcome- this seminar is free to attend, but booking is required.