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The American Energy Consumer







Table 3-30.Type of Air Conditioning by Whether It Came With Home, 1973 (percent of households)
Air conditioning type Total Came with home Bought
All households with air conditioning 100 27 73
Window 100 18 82
Part of house cooled 100 14 86
Whole house cooled 100 23 77
Central 100 47 53
Source: Washington Center for Metropolitan Studies' Lifestyles and Energy Surveys.

costs. Consumer enthusiasm for fluorescent lights has been restrained by the lights' appearance. They look best in kitchen, bath, or utility room.

Outside gas lights use a lot of energy. These decorative lamps, burning day and night, collectively used 45 trillion Btu's in 1973. They create a pleasant atmosphere, but perhaps if the 2.5 million households that now have them knew how much energy they use, many might be willing to give them up.

Footnotes
Footnote :

a The conversion rate from kwhr's to Btu's was adjusted to include the energy expended in production and transmission of the electricity used in the home as well as the electric energy used in the home itself.

Footnote :

b The preliminary weight given to an air conditioner depended on whether the air conditioner was gas or electric, window or central. The preliminary weight was then adjusted for climate through the use of cooling degree days in the locality for each household. The adjustment factor was the cooling degree days for the respondent's locality divided by the mean cooling degree days for the whole sample.

Footnote :

a Excludes unknowns.

HIGHLIGHTS

The householder trying to save on a fuel bill (or sharing national concern and trying to save energy) can do several things.

  • Keep indoor temperature down in the winter

  • Not open windows or doors unnecessarily

  • Have the natural gas company turn off the furnace pilot light in the summer

  • Avoid using electric space heaters

  • Wash clothes in cold water

  • Use fewer appliances and use them less

  • Keep the lights off as much as possible

If a householder can afford to, he/she might add storm windows and storm doors, weatherstripping, and insulation. But basically the important factors affecting space heat—climate, type of structure and type of heating—are beyond the average household's immediate control.

The type of structure was settled when the home went up. This was determined by a complex interaction of building codes, building code enforcement, material costs, builder perceptions of consumer demand, and standards set by financing organizations, both public and private. These considerations affect the characteristics of new homes and particularly those built by developers, who actually determine the design of most new housing today.