Electric heating in the USA

Owing to the popularity of air conditioning, many American electrical utilities have their peak loads in summer, and this has led to the promotion of electric space heating. The growth of this heat load has been accompanied by consumer dissatisfaction resulting from poor temperature control, attributed to a lack of interest in such practical control problems as thermostat design by control-engineering schools in the United States. This situation is changing with the current swing towards practical control problems in US engineering schools.