Regional Energy Profile

MIDDLE ATLANTIC APPLIANCE REPORT  2001

Return to Regional Energy Profiles Return to Appliance Reports Subscribe to Our Listserv for Notice of New Products CONTENTS OF THIS REPORT Air-Conditioning Electric Appliances Gas Appliances U.S. Data Table Middle Atlantic Data Table LINKS TO RELATED DATA PRODUCTS Middle Atlantic Data Abstract Middle Atlantic Residential Energy Map Middle Atlantic Renewable Potential Map Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2001 Regional Energy Data Sources U.S. Census Regions and Divisions Map Middle Atlantic State Pages: New Jersey New York Pennsylvania

The three States of the Middle Atlantic Census Division--New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania--occupy an area between the middle Atlantic seaboard and Lakes Ontario and Erie in the northeastern United States. The 15 million households in the Middle Atlantic Division account for about 14 percent of all U.S. households. Middle Atlantic winters are among the coldest nationwide, meaning that household space-heating requirements are higher. On the other hand, summers in the Middle Atlantic States are milder than in most other parts of the country, and air-conditioning requirements tend to be lower. In 1997 (the most recent year for which data are available), Middle Atlantic households consumed 1.7 quadrillion Btu of energy, about 17 percent of nationwide households energy consumption in 1997 of 10.2 quadrillion Btu. Of household energy consumption in the Middle Atlantic, approximately 21 percent was used to operate air-conditioners and appliances (including refrigerators). Nationwide, 31 percent was used. The lower share of energy consumption devoted to air-conditioning and appliances in the Middle Atlantic, when compared with the United States as a whole, is attributable to the colder climate in the Middle Atlantic, where relatively more household energy resources are devoted to space and water heating. AIR-CONDITIONING Air-conditioning is an energy-intensive activity, and the use of air-conditioning rose sharply from 1980 through 2001. Nationwide, the share of households with air-conditioning rose from 57 percent to 77 percent (U.S. Data Table), and in the Middle Atlantic Division, the share rose from 52 percent to 76 percent (Middle Atlantic Data Table). In 1980, individual room air-conditioners were more common than central air-conditioning in the United States as a whole. Thirty percent of households had room units, compared with 27 percent with central air-conditioning. In the Middle Atlantic, the difference was much greater: 40 percent of households had room units, compared with only 12 percent with central air-conditioning.

By 2001, central air-conditioning had become more common than individual units in most regions of the country, but not in the Middle Atlantic. Nationwide, more than twice as many households (55 percent) had central air-conditioning as had individual units only (23 percent). In the Middle Atlantic, however, the share of households with central air-conditioning was 33 percent, while the share of households with individual units was 43 percent. ELECTRIC APPLIANCES The electric appliance with the most dramatic increase in absolute market share from 1980 through 1997 was the microwave oven. Present in only 14 percent of households nationwide in 1980, microwave ovens were found in 86 percent of U.S. households by 2001. In the Middle Atlantic, the share rose from 7 percent to 76 percent. The personal computer (PC) is the newest of the two dozen or so household appliances covered in the EIA survey. In 1990 (the first survey year in which data on PCs were collected), 16 percent of households nationwide had PCs. By 2001, 56 percent had them. The growth in the prevalence of PCs was similar in the Middle Atlantic, where the share rose from 17 percent in 1990 to 52 percent in 2001. The prevalence of most other electric appliances increased during the 1980-2001 period as well. The Middle Atlantic Division mirrored the United States as a whole in regard to some of those appliances. For example, from 1980 through 2001, the shares of color TVs rose from 82 percent nationwide and 81 percent in the Division to 99 percent overall in 1997. Similarly, the shares of dishwashers rose from 37 percent nationwide and 33 percent in the Division to 53 percent and 44 percent, respectively. One difference between the United States as a whole and the Middle Atlantic is that, in general, electric appliances were more common in households nationwide than in Middle Atlantic households throughout the 1980-2001 period. For example, the share of U.S. households with clothes dryers ranged from 45 to 57 percent, whereas the share of Middle Atlantic households with clothes dryers ranged from 38 to 46 percent.1 The share of U.S households with electric ranges ranged from 53 to 61 percent, whereas the share of Middle Atlantic households ranged from 38 to 44 percent. Separate freezers also were more common in the United States as a whole throughout the 1980-2001 period. GAS APPLIANCES Another difference between the United States as a whole and the three Middle Atlantic States is the greater prevalence of major gas appliances in the Middle Atlantic. In 2001, gas ranges had a 39-percent market share nationwide, whereas in the Middle Atlantic Division gas ranges had a 55-percent share. The national trend from 1980 through 2001 was a decrease in the share of homes with gas ranges and an increase in the share of homes with electric ranges. The trend in the Division was not as pronounced. Outdoor gas grills penetrated the residential market the fastest of the five gas appliances surveyed by EIA. From 1980 through 1993 (the latest year for which EIA collected gas grill data), outdoor gas grills were more prevalent in the Middle Atlantic than in the United States as whole. From a 9-percent share in 1980, the prevalence of outdoor gas grills rose to 29 percent of all U.S. households in 1993; in the Middle Atlantic Division, the increase was from 13 percent in 1980 to 35 percent in 1993. In 2001, gas clothes dryers were found in 17 percent of households nationwide and in 24 percent of households in the Middle Atlantic. Nationally, the share of gas clothes dryers was 3 percentage points higher in 2001 than in 1980, and, in the Middle Atlantic, the share was 7 percentage points higher. However, there were fluctuations in the shares during the intervening years, and no long-term trends were verifiable. ________________ 1Ranges are determined by using rounded values for shares.

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