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do. One-quarter of the poor have frost-free refrigerators
compared with over two-thirds of the well off. The higher energy
use of the frost-free refrigerator is not well known, but if a poor
household had known this and, trying to make ends meet, had tried
to buy a regular refrigerator instead of a frost-free model, it
probably could not have, for in recent years, only the frost-free
model has been available in most retail stores.
Poor
households generally use less energy for lighting. They have fewer
rooms lit in the evening. They are less likely than other
households to keep a light on all night, and they are more likely
to buy bulbs which use 75 watts or less (Table 5-11).
Laundry Equipment
The poor
lag considerably behind the well off in laundry equipment.
Nine-tenths of the well off have washing machines and eight-tenths
have dryers. Less than two-thirds of the poor have washers and only
one-quarter have dryers. Three-fourths of the lower middle have
washers and nearly half have dryers.
The washing
machines of the well off are virtually all automatic. Of the poor
who have washers, about two-thirds have an automatic and one-third
have the old-fashioned wringer type.
For
households without washers of any type, the laundromat is obviously
an important institution. For households without cars (almost half
of the poor), a distant laundromat could multiply the time and
human effort necessary to clean clothes.
Dishwasher and Food Freezer
The
dishwasher and the food freezer are the least common major
applicances among the well-off, only about half having them. These
appliances are
Table 5-11.Household Home Lighting
Habits, by Income, 1973 (percent of households)
| Home lighting
habits |
Poor |
Lower middle |
Upper middle |
Well off |
| All households |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
| Number of rooms lit in the
evening |
|
|
|
|
| 0-1 |
63 |
53 |
38 |
32 |
| 2 |
24 |
31 |
35 |
31 |
| 3 or more |
13 |
16 |
27 |
37 |
| Lights on all night |
30 |
35 |
41 |
42 |
| Buy bulbs of 75 watts or
less |
70 |
61 |
50 |
46 |
| Source: Washington
Center for Metropolitan Studies' Lifestyles and Energy
Surveys. |