even more uncommon among the other income groups: one-quarter of
the poor have freezers and only 3 percent have dishwashers.
The
automatic clotheswasher, clothes dryer, frost-free refrigerator,
food freezer, and dishwasher are all time savers. With them, the
mother's time (or the time of others in less traditional families)
is freed for rest, leisure, and for activities which can enrich the
family's life, either culturally or financially.
Air
Conditioning
Air
conditioning is one of the major energy users. Residential,
commercial, and industrial air conditioning combined are
responsible for summer peak loads and brownouts.
As with
other appliances, the poor are less likely to enjoy air
conditioning than are other income groups. One-fifth of the poor
have air conditioning compared with two-thirds of the well off
(Table 5-12). When poor households have air conditioning, it is
almost always a window unit. Among the well off with air
conditioning, about half have window units; the other half have
central air conditioning.
The
majority of households in all income groups reported a willingness
to buy air conditioners which would cost $50 more initially but $20
less a year to operate. The percentage of respondents agreeing with
this statement went from 70 percent among the poor to 93 percent
among the well off. Poor households are the least likely to buy air
conditioners at all. Thus as the likelihood of the household's
actually purchasing an air conditioner rose, so did the likelihood
of that household's being willing to take into account long term
operating costs.
Appliance Index
The
appliance index described in Chapter Three included all the major
appliances with weights according to average energy use as
estimated by the Edison Electrical Institute and the American Gas
Association. The higher a family's score on the appliance index,
the more energy using appliances that family had in its home.
Poor
households had low scores and well off households had high scores.
Almost two-thirds of the poor had scores of less than 40; only
about one-tenth of the upper middle and well off had such low
scores. Lower middle income households were more like the poor;
about two-fifths of them had appliance index scores of less than 40
(Table 5-13).
The low
appliance index scores of most poor households mean that the poor
are doing without many of the work saving appliances other
households have and enjoy.