Air-Conditioning: Air-conditioning
is one of the five end-use categories in this report. It is defined
as cooling and dehumidification of the air in a building by a
refrigeration unit driven by electricity or gas. This definition
excludes fans, blowers, or evaporative cooling systems ("swamp
coolers") that are not connected to a refrigeration unit.
Airconditioning units that are not currently in working
condition or are not used are still included in the RECS if they
are in place in the housing unit. If the household did not use
its air-conditioning equipment during the summer of 1993, no consumption
and expenditures are imputed for air-conditioning.
Apartments: A housing
unit in a building with multiple units--a structure that is divided
into living quarters for more than one family or household and
where one household lives above another. Apartments can be located
in large buildings, garden apartment buildings, or in houses originally
intended for occupancy by one family (or some other use) that
have since been converted to separate dwellings for more than
one family.
Appliances: One of the
main enduse categories in RECS. It is defined as the use
of energy for all uses except those covered by space heating,
water heating, refrigerators (starting with the 1990 RECS), and
air-conditioning. This includes energy used for freezers, lights,
televisions, personal computers, washing machines, and most small
appliances. Special energy uses for appliances are energy used
to heat: food, water for cooking, water for hot drinks, air to
dry clothes, water for a swimming pool, water in a water bed.
Also included is energy to operate fans for a central forcedair
spaceheating system and energy for an evaporative cooling
system (swamp coolers). (See EndUse and for a more
complete listing of appliances, see Appliances Used.)
Appliances Used: Appliances
used in the home during the year, including those loaned to the
householder for regular use. Appliances possessed by the household
but not used are not counted, except for air-conditioning equipment.
Appliances temporarily not in working condition but generally
used by the household are included only if a repair person has
been called or the appliance has been taken to a repair shop,
except for air-conditioning equipment. Cooking appliances include
the following: toaster oven, gas stove-top or burners, gas oven,
electric stove-top or burners, electric oven, microwave oven,
gas grill (that uses bottled gas or propane), and natural gas
grill. Stovetop or burners include range tops and stand-alone
cook tops. Range burners and ovens are counted as separate appliances.
Cooling appliances include: evaporative cooler (swamp cooler),
whole-house or attic fan, exhaust fan, window fan, ceiling fan,
portable or table fan. Other appliances counted include: refrigerator,
freezer, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, swimming pool and
hot tub pump and heater, television, personal computer, laser
printer, waterbed heater, heated aquarium, humidifier, air cleaner,
facsimile machine, photocopier, portable space heater, and dehumidifier.
Average: The simple arithmetic
average for a population; that is, the sum of all the values in
a population divided by the size of the population. Population
means are estimated by computing the weighted sum of the sample
values, then dividing by the sum of the sample weights. (See Weight.)
Ballast: See High-Efficiency
Ballast.
Bathroom: For this report,
a full bathroom contains a sink with running water, a flush toilet,
and a bathtub or shower. A half bathroom contains a toilet or
bathtub or shower.
Bedroom: Room intended
for sleeping, even if not presently used for sleeping. Number
of bedrooms are those that would be listed as descriptive of the
apartment or house if it were on the market for sale or rent.
A oneroom efficiency or studio apartment has no bedrooms.
British Thermal Unit:
See Btu.
Btu (British Thermal Unit) :
A Btu is defined as the amount of energy required to increase
the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit, at
normal atmospheric pressure. (See Metric Conversion Factors.)
Btu Conversion Factors:
The Btu conversion factors used for this survey are listed below:
| Electricity (site) | 3,412 Btu/kilowatthour |
| Electricity (primary) | 10,280 Btu/kilowatthour [25] |
| Natural gas | 1,028 Btu/cubic foot |
| Fuel Oil No.1 | 135,000 Btu/gallon |
| Kerosene | 135,000 Btu/gallon |
| Fuel Oil No.2 | 138,690 Btu/gallon |
| LPG (propane) | 91,330 Btu/gallon |
| Wood | 20,000,000 Btu/cord. |
Region Division States
| Region | Division | State |
| Northeast | New England | Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island |
| Middle Atlantic | New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania | |
| Midwest | East North Central | Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin |
| West North Central | Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota | |
| South | South Atlantic | Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia |
| East South Central | Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee | |
| West South Central | Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas | |
| West | Mountain | Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming |
| Pacific | Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington |
Census Region: See Census Division.
Clothes Dryer: An appliance
that dries laundry through the application of heat and rapid air
movement. The hot air used is typically heated by electricity
or gas, either natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas.
Clothes Washer: An appliance
for automatically cleaning home laundry. It has an opening on
its top or its front offering access to the washer tub. An agitator,
located within the tub, moves the articles to be cleaned through
the wash water. The machine is powered by an electric motor connected
to the tub and agitator via a transmission, clutches, and linkages.
In front-loading machines, the articles are moved by a rotating
tube rather than an agitator.
Consumption: The amount
of electricity or natural gas used by, or delivered to, the household
during a 365day period. For fuel oil, kerosene, and LPG,
the quantity represents fuel purchased, not fuel consumed. If
the level of fuel in the tank was the same at the beginning and
end of the annual period, then the quantity consumed would be
the same as the quantity purchased. Measurements or reports of
the level of fuel in the tank were not included in the RECS data
collection.
Conversion Factors: See
Btu Conversion Factors and Metric Conversion Factors.
Demand-Side Management (DSM) Programs: These
are organized utility-sponsored activities that are intended to
affect the amount and timing of customer electricity or natural
gas use.
Dishwasher: A builtin
or portable appliance used for automatically cleaning dishware,
utensils, and cutlery. The national appliance efficiency standards
required that, by 1988, dishwashers be equipped with an option
to dry without heat.
Electricity: Metered electric
power supplied by a central utility company to a residence via
power lines. Since there are no volumetric measures of electricity,
as there are with the fossil fuels, electricity is measured as
the amount of power used at any instant (demand expressed in watts
or kilowatts) or as power used over a given time (consumption
expressed in kilowatthours). The heat equivalent for electricity
is 3,412 Btu per kWh, but this is a derived form of energy and
does not represent the amount of energy needed to generate the
electricity and transmit it to the building. Generation and transmission
requires about 3 times 3,412 Btu per kWh. Energy is used in preparing
other fuels for consumption from their condition as mined and
delivering them to a site for use, but these amounts of energy
are relatively small compared to the Btu value of the fuel consumed.
(See Primary Electricity and Btu Conversion Factors.)
End Use: A function for
which energy sources or fuels are used in the household. Five
main energy end-use categories were estimated: space heating,
air-conditioning, water heating, refrigerator, and appliance usage.
The amount of energy used for these end uses is estimated by means
of a nonlinear regression technique, rather than by using metered
data. Although not shown in the tables in Chapter 5, end-use estimates
were also made for the following uses of electricity: freezers,
lighting, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and cooking (ranges and
ovens). (See Appendix B, "End-Use Estimation Methodology.")
Energy: The capacity for
doing work as measured by the capability of doing work (potential
energy) or the conversion of the capability to motion (kinetic
energy). Energy has several forms, some of which are easily convertible
and can be changed to another form useful for work. Most of the
world's convertible energy comes from fossil fuels that are burned
to produce heat that is then used as a transfer medium to mechanical
or other means in order to accomplish tasks. Electrical energy
is usually measured in kilowatthours, while heat energy is usually
measured in British thermal units (Btu).
Expenditures: Charges
spent for the energy consumed in, or delivered to, a building
during a given period of time. For this report, all expenditure
statistics are presented on an annual basis, for calendar year
1993. The total dollar amount includes State and local taxes but
excludes merchandise, repairs, or special service charges. For
households on a budget plan, the expenditures are for the actual
consumption. Electricity and natural gas expenditures are for
the amount of those energy sources consumed. Fuel oil, kerosene,
and LPG expenditures are for the amount of fuel purchased, which
may differ from the amount of fuel consumed. For households that
do not pay their fuel supplier directly, the expenditures for
fuels are estimated and included in the tables. (See Consumption.)
Family Income Category:
The income grouping for the total combined income (before taxes
and deductions) of all members of the family from all sources,
for the 12 months prior to the interview. Sources of income include
the following: wages, salaries, tips, commissions, interest, dividends,
rental income, Social Security or railroad retirement, pensions,
food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, unemployment
compensation, Supplemental Security Income, General Assistance
and other public assistance. This definition includes the total
income of all family members who lived in the household during
the 12 months prior to the interview, regardless of whether they
were living there at the time of the interview. Income of nonfamily
members of the household is not included. "Family" includes
the following types of relationships: mother, father, sister,
brother, son, daughter, fatherinlaw, uncle, aunt,
niece, grandchild, foster child (and similar relationships).
Floodlights: Lights that
illuminate large areas, often used outdoors. Incandescent floodlights,
the most common, are at least 150 watts. Mercury vapor or sodium
vapor floodlights are at least 100 watts. Floodlights cannot be
fluorescent lights.
Floorspace: The floor
area of the housing unit that is enclosed from the weather. For
RECS, the following are included in the floorspace: basements,
whether or not they contain finished space; finished and/or heated
space in attics; and garages, if they have a wall in common with
the house. Not included are: crawl spaces, even if they are enclosed
from the weather; and sheds and other buildings that are not attached
to the house. Floorspace (in square feet) is derived from an actual
measurement made by the RECS interviewer using a metallic, retractable,
50foot tape measure.
"Heated Floorspace" is the portion of the
floorspace that is heated during most of the winter season. Rooms
that are shut off during the heating season to save fuel are not
counted as heated square footage. Attached garages that are unheated
and unheated areas in basements and attics are not counted as
heated square feet.
"Cooled Floorspace" is computed as total
floorspace times the percentage of rooms that are cooled over
total rooms. This method for calculating cooled floorspace is
different from the method used in Housing Characteristics 1993
that used heated floorspace rather than total floorspace.
Fluorescent Lamps: Usually
long, narrow, white tubes connected to a fixture at both ends;
some are circular. The tube is coated on the inside with fluorescent
material. The lamp produces light by passing electricity through
mercury vapor, which causes the fluorescent coating to glow or
fluoresce. These lights are typically found in kitchen and basement
work areas. Newer types ("compact" fluorescent lamps),
looking somewhat more like a conventional bulbs, can be screwed
into fixtures. (See Lights.)
Halogen Lamp: A type of
incandescent lamp that lasts much longer and is more efficient
than the common incandescent lamp. The lamp uses a halogen gas,
usually iodine or bromine, that causes the evaporating tungsten
to be redeposited on the filament, thus prolonging its life. (See
Incandescent Lamp.)
Heated Floorspace: See
Floorspace.
High-Efficiency Ballast (HEB): The
ballast is the transformer for florescent and High-Intensity Discharge
Lamps, which provides the necessary current, voltage, and wave-form
conditions to operate the lamp.
High-Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamp: A
lamp that produces light by passing electricity through gas, which
causes the gas to glow. Examples of HID lamps are mercury vapor
lamps, metal halide lamps, and highpressure sodium lamps.
HID lamps have an extremely long life and emit far more lumens
per fixture than do florescent lights.
Household: A family, an
individual, or a group of up to nine unrelated persons, occupying
the same housing unit. "Occupy" means the housing unit
was the person's usual or permanent place of residence at the
time of the first field contact. Household members include babies,
lodgers, boarders, employed persons who live in the housing unit,
and persons who usually live in the household but are away traveling
or in a hospital. The household does not include (1) persons who
are normally members of the household but who were away from home
as college students or members of the armed forces at the time
of the contact; (2) persons temporarily visiting with the household
if they have a place of residence elsewhere; (3) persons who take
their meals with the household but usually lodge or sleep elsewhere;
(4) domestic employees or other persons employed by the household
who do not sleep in the same housing unit; and (5) persons who
are former members of the household, but have since become inmates
of correction or penal institutions, mental institutions, homes
for the aged or needy, homes or hospitals for the chronically
ill or handicapped, nursing homes, convents or monasteries, or
other places in which residents may remain for long periods of
time. By definition, in the RECS, the number of households is
the same as the number of occupied housing units.
Household Member: See
Household.
Householder: The person
(or one of the people) in whose name the home is owned or rented.
If there is no lease or similar agreement, or if the person who
owns the home or pays the rent does not live in the housing unit,
the householder is the person responsible for paying the household
bills, or whoever is generally in charge.
Housing Unit: A house,
an apartment, a group of rooms, or a single room if it is either
occupied, or intended for occupancy, as separate living quarters
by a family, an individual, or a group of one to nine unrelated
persons. Separate living quarters means the occupants (1) live
and eat separately from other persons in the house or apartment
and (2) have direct access from the outside of the building or
through a common hallthat is, they can get to it without
going through someone else's living quarters. Housing units do
not include group quarters, such as prisons or nursing homes where
ten or more unrelated persons live. Hotel and motel rooms are
considered housing units if occupied as the usual or permanent
place of residence.
Incandescent Lamp: The
most common and among the least energy-efficient of all household
lamps. A lamp that produces light by electrically heating a tungsten
filament so that it glows and produces a soft, warm light. Because
so much of the energy used is lost as heat, these are highly inefficient
sources of light. Included in this category are the familiar household
light bulbs that screw into sockets, as well as more energy-efficient
incandescent bulbs, such as Tungsten Halogen (spotlights), Reflector
or R-lamps (accent and task lighting), Parabolic Aluminized Reflector
(PAR) lamps (flood and spot lighting), and Ellipsoidal Reflector
(ER) lamps (recessed lighting).
Intensity: This is a method
of adjusting either the amount of energy consumed or expenditures
spent, for the effects of various housing unit and/or household
characteristics, such as size of the housing unit, climate, and
number of household members, to facilitate comparisons of energy
across time, regions of the country, fuels, and housing units.
Kilowatthour: See kWh.
kWh (Kilowatthour): A
unit of work or energy, measured as 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of
power expended for 1 hour. One kWh is equivalent to 3,412 Btu.
(See Btu and Btu Conversion Factor.)
Lamp: A term generally
used to describe a manmade source of light. The term is often
used when referring to a "bulb" or "tube."
(See Lights.)
Lights: For the RECS,
all of the light bulbs controlled by one switch were counted as
one light. For example, a chandelier with multiple lights controlled
by one switch is counted as one light. A floor lamp with two separate
globes or bulbs controlled by two separate switches would be counted
as two lights. Indoor and outdoor lights were counted if they
were under the control of the householder. This would exclude
lights in the hallway of multifamily buildings. (See Floodlights,
Fluorescent, High-Intensity Discharge, and Incandescent
Lamps.)
Metric Conversion Factors:
In this report, estimates are presented in customary U.S. units.
Floorspace estimates may be converted to metric units by using
this relationship: 1 square foot is approximately equal to .0929
square meters. Energy estimates may be converted to metric units
by using this relationship: 1 Btu is approximately equal to 1,055
joules. One kilowatthour is exactly equal to 3,600,000 joules.
One gigajoule is approximately 278 kilowatthours (kWh). (See Btu
and Btu Conversion Factors.)
Mobile home: A housing
unit built on a movable chassis and moved to the site. It may
be placed on a permanent or temporary foundation and may contain
one room or more. If rooms are added to the structure, it is considered
a singlefamily housing unit. A manufactured house assembled
on site is a singlefamily housing unit, not a mobile home.
Occupied Housing Unit: A
unit in which someone was living as his or her usual or permanent
place of residence when the first RECS field contact was made.
(See Housing Unit.)
Owned/Rented: The relationship
of a housing unit's occupants to the structure itself, not the
land on which the structure is located. "Owned" means
the owner or coowner is a member of the household and the
housing unit is either fully paid for or mortgaged. A household
is classified "rented" even if the rent is paid by someone
not living in the unit. Rent free means the unit is not owned
or being bought and no money is paid or contracted for rent. Such
units are usually provided in exchange for services rendered or
as an allowance or favor from a relative or friend not living
in the unit. Unless shown separately, rentfree households
are grouped with rented households.
Ownership: See Owned/Rented.
Peak Demand: The maximum rate of energy consumption per unit time over a period of measurement.
Potential Savings: Savings
that could be realized if households adopted more energy-efficient
equipment and appliances, such as compact fluorescent lights.
Primary Electricity: A
measurement of electricity that includes the approximate amount
of energy used to generate electricity. To approximate the adjusted
amount of electricity, the sitevalue of the electricity
is multiplied by a factor of three. This conversion factor of
three is a rough approximation of the Btu value of raw fuels used
to generate electricity in a steamgeneration power plant.
In this report, electricity is represented as site energy. (See
Site Energy and Btu Conversion Factors.)
Relative Standard Error: See
RSE or Relative Standard Error.
Rent: See Owned/Rented.
Residential: Occupied
housing units, including mobile homes, singlefamily housing
units (attached and detached), and apartments. The definition
of "occupied housing units" is the same as that used
by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. (See Household and Housing
Unit.)
Residential Building: A
structure used primarily as a dwelling for one or more households.
Rooms: Subdivisions of
a housing unit. Whole rooms are rooms such as living rooms, dining
rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, lodgers' rooms, finished basements
or attic rooms, recreation rooms, and permanently enclosed sun
porches that are used year round. Rooms used for offices by a
person living in the unit are included in this survey. "Finished"
means that the ceiling and walls are covered with finishing materials.
Not considered to be rooms in this survey are bathrooms,
halls, foyers, or vestibules, balconies, closets, alcoves, pantries,
strip or Pullman kitchens, laundry or furnace rooms, unfinished
attics or basements, open porches, and unfinished space used for
storage.
A partially divided room, such as a dinette next
to a kitchen or a living room, is considered a separate room only
if there is a partition from floor to ceilingbut not
if the partition consists solely of shelves or cabinets. If a
room is used by occupants of more than one unit, the room is included
with the unit from which it is most easily reached. (See Bedroom
and Bathroom.)
RSE Column Factor: An
adjustment factor used to compute RSE's. For a survey estimate
in a particular row and column of a table (that is, a particular
"cell"), the approximate RSE is obtained by multiplying
the RSE row factor by the RSE column factor for that cell (See
RSE or Relative Standard Error,
RSE Row Factor).
RSE or Relative Standard Error: A
measure of the reliability or precision of a survey statistic.
The Relative Standard Error, or RSE, is defined as the standard
error of a survey estimate, expressed as a percent of the estimate.
For example, an RSE of 10 percent means that the standard error
is one-tenth as large as the survey estimate. The RSE is also
known as the coefficient of variation.
RSE Row Factor: A factor
used to compute RSE's. The row factor is equal to the geometric
mean of the RSE's in a particular row of main tables. For a survey
estimate in a particular row and column of a table (that is, a
particular "cell"), the approximate RSE is obtained
by multiplying the RSE row factor by the RSE column factor for
that cell. (See RSE or Relative Standard Error, RSE Column
Factor.)
Sampling: The procedure
used to select housing units for interview from the population
of all residential housing units in the United States.
SingleFamily: A
housing unit that provides living space for one household or family.
The structure may be detached or attached to another unit. Attached
houses are considered singlefamily houses as long as the
house itself is not divided into more than one housing unit and
has an independent outside entrance. A singlefamily house
is contained within walls that go from the basement (or the ground
floor, if there is no basement) to the roof. Townhouses, rowhouses,
and duplexes are considered singlefamily attached housing
units, as long as there is no household living above another one
within the walls that go from the basement to the roof to separate
the units. A mobile home with one or more rooms added is classified
as a singlefamily home.
Site Energy: The Btu value
of energy at the point it enters the home, sometimes referred
to as "delivered" energy. In this report, electricity
is represented as site electricity. (See Primary Electricity
and Btu Conversion Factors.)
Space Heating: The use
of mechanical equipment (including wood stoves and active solar-heating
devices) to heat all, or part, of a building to at least 50 degrees
Fahrenheit. The equipment could be the main space-heating equipment
or secondary space-heating equipment. It does not include the
use of energy to operate appliances (such as lights, televisions,
and other appliances) that give off heat as a byproduct.
Square Feet: See Floorspace.
Weight: The number of
households in the United States that a particular sample unit
represents. To estimate the total value of an attribute (such
as floorspace) in the U.S. residential population as a whole,
each sample household's value is multiplied by the household's
weight. Summing the weighted sample values provides an estimate
of the nationwide total.