What would you do if there was a government-issued shelter-in-place order when you lost power during a heatwave? (Q19)

The chart here shown reflects answers from Question #19 on the Spring 2020 survey, which asked: “What would you do if there was a government-issued shelter-in-place order when you lost power during a heatwave?” The structured responses prepared by the research group were as follows: 

• I would turn on my back-up generator.

• I would go to the home of a friend or family member who did have power.

• I would wait until power was restored. 

• I would try to reduce the amount of sunlight entering my common spaces in peak hours.

• I would try to air out the house as much as possible.

• I would try to get a hold of a power generator.

• I don’t know.

• Other, please explain: 

This question was answered by 82 people. Given respondents could select multiple options, the numbers here add-up to more than 82. The following was gathered:

• 2 respondents who said they would turn their generators on in the previous question also said they would do so for this question; 

• 17 people said they would go to family, friends, or other places (despite being prompted with stay-at-home directives); 

• 23 respondents would wait for power to be restored; 

• 11 respondents would try to reduce the amount of sunlight that enters the room; 

• 23 respondents would air the house as much as possible; 

• 4 respondents would try to get a hold of a power generator; 

• 7 respondents said they don’t know what they would do; 

• 3 respondents said they would use fans;

• 3 respondents said they would go to cool outdoor spaces;

• 3 respondents would contact their utility companies;

• 2 respondents said they would hang out in cool areas of the home;

• 2 respondents would go on vacation;

• 1 respondents said they would not have a choice and would have to seek shelter;

• 1 respondent said they would follow government directives;

• 1 respondent said they would nap;

The data was produced by the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 Survey - Overview, which was administered to 86 people over a six week period in May-June 2020. Visit the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 - Survey Results page to view more data from our survey. The project is approved by Drexel’s IRB.