Environment & Energy

It seems like yes it would. In a near-zero humidity environment, the AC is expending almost no electric energy on dehumidifying, and almost all its energy on pumping heat up a gradient, and that's where the "square law" (electric energy expended proportional to square of temperature difference) applies.

On the other hand, in average or worse locales humidity-wise, and if it's true that half or more of the energy expended is dehumidifying, then the "square law" would apply only to the part used to pump heat up a gradient. As for how the dehumidifying electric energy part changes with temperature or humidity, I have no idea.

So overall, the "square law" probably overstates the impact of increasing temperature on total AC electricity usage.

I should dig into this.

Thanks for bringing up the issue, I was originally thinking the humidity aspect was making it into something more than square until you got me to think about it.