Table 3. Frequency of Central Air-Conditioning Usage by Census Region and Survey Year
                  (percent of households)
  Survey Year
Number of Households With Central Air-Conditioning
(million)
Percent Using Central Air-Conditioning
Not at All
Few Days or Nights
Quite A Bit
All Summer Long
Don’t Know Missing
National
   1978 17.6 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1979 18.7 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1980 22.2 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1981 22.4 4.3 39.5 21.9 33.4 0.9
   1982 23.4 4.5 38.9 20.0 32.6 4.0
   1984 25.7 5.1 31.8 18.8 34.7 9.6
   1987 30.7 3.5 25.2 22.5 44.1 4.7
   1990 36.6 3.4 26.4 22.8 46.7 0.7
   1993 42.1 2.3 30.6 21.2 45.9 NC
   1997 47.8 0.7 25.9 21.8 51.6 NC
Census Region
Northeast
   1978 1.6 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
  1979 1.4 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1980 1.9 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1981 1.7 9.1 61.9 13.3 15.8 NC
   1982 2.1 8.3 62.9 13.5 15.2 NC
   1984 2.0 8.2 49.0 14.0 24.9 4.0
   1987 3.0 3.2 41.5 32.1 21.1 2.1
   1990 3.2 5.3 37.1 27.3 30.3 NC
   1993 3.9 2.6 43.1 30.9 23.5 NC
   1997 4.4 0.4 43.8 24.6 31.2 NC
Midwest
   1978 5.1 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1979 5.7 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1980 5.5 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1981 5.6 6.8 53.7 20.6 18.1 0.7
   1982 5.8 5.0 52.1 23.7 17.2 2.0
   1984 5.9 4.8 47.8 18.1 25.7 3.6
   1987 7.2 4.1 31.2 31.2 30.8 2.8
   1990 9.2 2.6 43.3 27.9 25.6 0.6
   1993 10.8 2.0 45.1 25.0 27.9 NC
   1997 12.4 0.4 37.4 28.8 33.5 NC
South
   1978 9.1 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1979 9.6 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1980 11.2 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1981 11.8 2.7 25.5 22.8 47.9 1.0
   1982 11.8 3.5 24.8 18.6 47.3 5.8
   1984 13.9 3.9 22.9 19.3 43.2 10.7
   1987 16.2 3.0 13.3 17.3 61.3 5.1
   1990 19.0 2.8 13.9 17.6 65.1 0.6
   1993 21.8 1.6 16.4 17.3 64.7 NC
   1997 25.0 0.5 13.5 17.3 68.7 NC
West
   1978 1.9 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1979 2.0 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1980 3.7 (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)
   1981 3.3 3.4 53.9 25.1 16.6 1.0
   1982 3.6 4.9 49.7 22.5 19.4 3.5
   1984 3.9 8.1 30.6 20.5 23.3 17.5
   1987 4.3 4.6 48.3 21.3 17.7 8.0
   1990 5.2 5.6 35.7 30.3 26.6 1.9
   1993 5.5 6.0 49.2 22.3 22.5 (*)
   1997 6.0 2.6 40.7 24.3 32.5 (*)
    (*) = Frequency of air-conditioning usage not collected during 1978, 1979 and 1980 RECS.
    NC = No cases.
    Source:   Energy Information Administration, 1978-1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, and 1997 Residential Energy Consumption Surveys (RECS).

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Recs AC Trends

Released date: August 2, 2000
File Last Modified: July 24, 2000

Robert Latta
Author
 
 
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Phone: (202) 586-1122
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