home insulation zones
now for HVAC power:
as you can see Florida only needs 50% more cooling power than Chicago because Chicago still has summers
on other hand Chicago needs twice the heating power versus Florida because Florida has no winter to speak of
furthermore the absolute amount of thermal energy that needs to be pumped is double when it comes to heating cold climates than cooling hot climates. this is because there is more temperature variation at the poles than equator.
this is also why warm climates have much less stringent requirements for thermal insulation than cold climates.
in fact most of the difference in cooling power requirements between Florida and Chicago is not because Florida is hotter, but because Florida homes are less insulated. actual peak summer temps in Florida and Chicago are about the same but Florida homes have much larger AC units ( anecdotally by eyeballing them when i was there ) because it’s hard to cool a home that is basically uninsulated.
on other hand winters in Chicago are 3X as cold as in Florida so even with 50% better insulation still 2X more heating power is required.
the problem with Florida is of course hurricanes. not only did i get PTSD from two hurricanes back to back on the same Florida trip but Florida homes are built with concrete walls to resist the hurricanes and this construction is both more expensive and less thermally insulating than wood frame homes.
also because of Florida sun the roofs in Florida need to be replaced more often and most FL homes have very large roofs due to the way homes there are built low and wide for various reasons.
anyway each region has cons and pros obviously …