APPENDIX 7-A. RECS 2005 VARIABLES AND VALUES
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 

7-A.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 7-A-1 

7-A.2 SAMPLE DETERMINATION.............................................................................. 7-A-1 

7-A.2.1 Room Air Conditioners........................................................................ 7-A-1 

7-A.2.2 Clothes Dryers ..................................................................................... 7-A-3 

7-A.3 RECS 2005 DATABASE VARIABLE RESPONSE CODES.............................. 7-A-5 

LIST OF TABLES 

Table 7-A.2.1 Energy Star Sizing Guidelines for Room Air Conditioners.......................7-A-2
 

Table 7-A.2.2 Selection of RECS 2005 Records for Room Air Conditioners..................7-A-2
 

Table 7-A.2.3 RECS 2005 Variables Used for Room Air Conditioners...........................7-A-3
 

Table 7-A.2.4 Selection of RECS 2005 Records for Clothes Dryers ...............................7-A-4
 

Table 7-A.2.5 RECS 2005 Variables Used for Clothes Dryers ........................................7-A-5
 

Table 7-A.3.1 RECS 2005 Variable Response Codes ......................................................7-A-5
 

7-A-i 

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APPENDIX 7-A. RECS 2005 VARIABLES AND VALUES
 

7-A.1 INTRODUCTION
 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created a database containing a subset of the 

records and variables from DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA)’s RECS 2005.1 

DOE used this RECS subset in the life-cycle cost (LCC) analysis of the Room Air Conditioners 

and Clothes Dryers Rulemaking. This appendix explains the variable name abbreviations and 

provides definitions of the variable values. For the entire RECS 2005 dataset, refer to 

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/recspubuse05/pubuse05.html. 

7-A.2 SAMPLE DETERMINATION 

7-A.2.1 Room Air Conditioners 

RECS 2005 shows that there are 28.8 million households with 51.3 million room air 

conditioners in the United States. The subset of RECS 2005 records used for room air 

conditioners in this analysis met all of the following criteria: 

1) Used a room air conditioner as the primary air conditioning equipmenta 

, 

2) Less than, or equal to, three room air conditioning unitsb 

, 

3) The room air conditioner was used. 

To divide the subset of RECS records into the appropriate product classes, DOE used 

Energy Star sizing guidelines for room air conditioners2 as shown in Table 7-A.2.1 and the 

cooling square footage area from RECS 2005 for each household. For households with multiple 

air conditioners, DOE divided the square footage by the number of room air conditioners to 

derive the average cooling square footage area per room air conditioner. DOE made adjustments 

to the guidelines for records where more than two people lived in the household. For each of 

these households this resulted in adding 600 Btu/h to the capacity needed for each additional 

person. The RECS 2005 variables used to match the selection criteria are listed in Table 7-A.2.2. 

DOE used the same RECS 2005 subset to characterize 8,000–13,999 Btu/h product classes with 

louvers and without louvers. 

a This excludes 1.5 million households which have both a central air conditioner unit and one or more room air 

conditioners. 

b This excludes 1.8 million households which have more than 3 room air conditioner units. 

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Table 7-A.2.1 Energy Star Sizing Guidelines for Room Air Conditioners
 

Area to be cooled Capacity Needed (BTUs per hour) Room Air Conditioner product 

class Assignment 

100–150 5,000 <6,000 Btu/h with louvers 

150–250 6,000 

250–350 7,000 

8,000–13,999 Btu/h with louvers 

and without louvers 

300–350 8,000 

350–400 9,000 

400–450 10,000 

450–550 12,000 

550–700 14,000 

700–1,000 18,000 

≥ 20,000 Btu/h with louvers 

1,000–1,200 21,000 

1,200–1,400 23,000 

1,400–1,500 24,000 

1,500–2,0000 30,000 

2,000–2,500 34,000 

Table 7-A.2.2 Selection of RECS 2005 Records for Room Air Conditioners
 

Product Class Selection Criterion # of 

Records 

# of US Households 

Represented 

(million) 

# of Room AC Units 

Represented 

(million) 

<6,000 Btu/h 

with louvers 

COOLTYPE = 2 

USEWWAC ≠ 0 

NUMBERAC ≤ 3 

TOTCSQFT/NUMBERAC < 250 

374 13.3 23.7 

8,000–13,999 

Btu/h with and 

without louvers 

COOLTYPE = 2 

USEWWAC ≠ 0 

NUMBERAC ≤ 3 

TOTCSQFT/NUMBERAC = 250-650 

635 24.6 49.8 

≥ 20,000 Btu/h 

with louvers 

COOLTYPE = 2 

USEWWAC ≠ 0 

NUMBERAC ≤ 3 

TOTCSQFT/NUMBERAC ≥ 650 or Room 

Air Conditioner Energy Use per unit >= 10 

MMBtu/yr 

108 3.7 6.7 

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Table 7-A.2.3 RECS 2005 Variables Used for Room Air Conditioners
 

Variable Description 

Location Variables 

DIVISION Census division 

DIVISION + LRG STATE* Combined large state (LRGSTATE) and census division (DIVISION) 

CD65 Cooling degree-days to base 65, 1-04 TO 12-04 

Household Characteristics Variables 

DOEID DOE 4-digit identification number 

NWEIGHT Final weight 

TYPEHUQ Type of housing unit 

COOLTYPE Type of air conditioning equipment 

ACHOUSE Central AC cooling usage 

ACROOMS Number of rooms cooled by central AC during the summer 

NUMBERAC Number of window or wall air conditioning units 

WWACAGE Approximate age of window or wall air conditioning unit 

USEWWAC Usage description for most-used window or wall air conditioner 

TOTCSQFT Household square footage 

BTUELCOL Electricity used for household cooling 

LocationID* Not part of RECS, added to link to weather data (See App. 7-E) 

* Not part of RECS 2005 variables. 

7-A.2.2 Clothes Dryers 

The subset of RECS households used for clothes dryers met all of the following criteria: 

1)	 Household has and uses a clothes washerc

, 

2)	 Used a clothes dryer, 

3)	 Clothes dryer used natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or electricity, 

4)	 For electric ventless dryers, the housing unit was an apartment building, manufactured 

home, or a single-family home with less than 1000 square footage and no basement or 

garage. 

c This criteria is needed in order to determine the clothes washer cycles of the household, which are then used to 

determine clothes dryer cycles. There are 0.3 million households that have a clothes dryer and no clothes washer. 

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The RECS 2005 variables used to match the selection criteria are listed in Table 7-A.2.4.
 

Table 7-A.2.4 Selection of RECS 2005 Records for Clothes Dryers
 

Product Class Selection Criterion # of 

Records 

# of US Households 

Represented (million) 

Electric WASLOAD ≠ 9 

DRYRFUEL = 5 2655 67.0 

Gas WASHLOAD ≠ 9 

DRYRFUEL = 1 OR 2 756 20.3 

Electric 

Ventless 

WASHLOAD ≠ 9 

DRYRFUEL = 5 

Type of Housing = Manufactured Home; 

Multifamily; or single family (<1000 sq. 

ft. and no garage or basement) 

570 14.3 

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Table 7-A.2.5 RECS 2005 Variables Used for Clothes Dryers
 

Variable Description 

Location Variables 

REGIONC Census region 

DIVISION Census division 

DIVISION + LRG STATE* Combined large state (LRGSTATE) and census division (DIVISION) 

Household Characteristics Variables 

DOEID DOE 4-digit identification number 

NWEIGHT Final weight 

YEARMADE Year residence built 

WASHLOAD Average number of wash loads per week in household clothes washer 

DRYRUSE Clothes dryer usage frequency 

BTUELCDR Electricity used for drying clothes 

DRYRFUEL Clothes dryer fuel 

BTUNGAPL Natural gas appliance use 

BTULPAPL LPG appliance use 

TYPEHUQ Type of housing unit 

TOTSQFT Household square footage 

CELLAR Household has a basement 

PRKGPLC1 Household has attached garage 

* Not part of RECS 2005 variables. 

7-A.3 RECS 2005 DATABASE VARIABLE RESPONSE CODES 

Table 7-A.3.1 provides the response codes for all RECS 2005 variables used in the Room 

Air Conditioner and Clothes Dryer samples. 

Table 7-A.3.1 RECS 2005 Variable Response Codes 

Variable Definition 

Common Variables (Alphabetical) 

CD65 Cooling degree-days to base 65, 1-04 TO 12-04 

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DIVISION Census division 

1 = New England 

2 = Middle Atlantic 

3 = East North Central 

4 = West North Central 

5 = South Atlantic 

6 = East South Central 

7 = West South Central 

8 = Mountain 

9 = Pacific 

DIVISION + LRG STATE* Combined large state (LRGSTATE) and census division (DIVISION) 

1 = New England 

2 = Middle Atlantic (not including New York) 

3 = East North Central 

4 = West North Central 

5 = South Atlantic (not including Florida) 

6 = East South Central 

7 = West South Central (not including Texas) 

8 = Mountain 

9 = Pacific (not including California) 

10 = New York 

11 = California 

13 = Texas 

14 = Florida 

DOEID DOE 4-digit identification number 

LRGSTATE Large state designation 

0 = Other 

1 = New York 

2 = California 

3 = Texas 

4 = Florida 

NWEIGHT Final weight 

REGIONC Census region 

1 = Northeast 

2 = Midwest 

3 = South 

4 = West 

TOTSQFT Household square footage 

TYPEHUQ Type of housing unit 

1 = Mobile Home 

2 = Single-family detached 

3 = Single-family attached 

4 = Apartment building with 2-4 units 

5 = Apartment building with 5 or more units 

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YEARMADE Year home built 

1 = Before 1940 

2 = 1940-49 

3 = 1950-59 

4 = 1960-69 

5 = 1970-79 

6 = 1980-84 

7 = 1985-89 

8 = 1990-94 

9 = 1995-99 

10 = 2000-2002 

11 = 2003 

12 = 2004 

13 = 2005 

Sample Variables (Alphabetical) 

ACHOUSE Central AC cooling usage 

1 = All of the rooms 

2 = Only some of the rooms 

0 = None of the rooms cooled 

ACROOMS Number of rooms cooled by central AC during the summer 

BTUELCDR Electricity clothes dryer use estimated (thousands of BTU) 

9999999=Not Applicable 

BTUELCOL Electricity cooling use estimated (thousands of BTU) 

9999999=Not Applicable 

BTULPAPL LPG appliance use estimated (thousands of BTU) 

9999999=Not Applicable 

BTUNGAPL Natural gas appliance use estimated (thousands of BTU) 

9999999=Not Applicable 

CELLAR Household has a basement 

1 = Yes 

0 = No 

9 = Skip 

COOLTYPE Type of air conditioning equipment 

1 = Central system 

2 = Individual units in the windows or wall 

3 = Both central and individual units 

DRYRFUEL Clothes dryer fuel 

1 = Natural gas from underground pipes 

2 = Bottled Gas (LPG or Propane) 

5 = Electricity 

99 = No Answer/Not Applicable 

DRYRUSE Clothes dryer usage frequency 

1 = Use it every time you wash clothes 

2 = Use it for some, but not all, loads of wash 

3 = Use it infrequently 

LocationID* Not part of RECS, added to link to weather data (See App. 7-E) 

NUMBERAC Number of window or wall air conditioning units 

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PRKCPLC1 Household has attached garage 

0 = No 

1 = Yes 

USEWWAC Usage description for most-used window or wall air conditioner 

0 = Not used at all 

1 = Turned on only a few days or nights when really needed 

2 = Turned on quite a bit 

3 = Turned on just about all summer 

WASHLOAD Average number of wash loads per week in household clothes washer 

1 = 1 load or less each week 

2 = 2 to 4 loads 

3 = 5 to 9 loads 

4 = 10 to 15 loads 

5 = More than 15 loads 

WWACAGE Approximate age of window or wall air conditioning unit 

1 = Less than 2 years old 

2 = 2 to 4 years old 

3 = 5 to 9 years old 

4 = 10 to 19 years old 

5 = 20 years or older 

6 = As old as the home (if volunteered) 

* Not part of RECS 2005 variables. 

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REFERENCES
 

1.	 U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy 

Consumption Survey: 2005 Public Use Data Files, 2005. 

<http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/recspubuse05/pubuse05.html> 

2.	 Energy Star, Properly Sized Room Air Conditioners. 

<http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=roomac.pr_properly_sized> 

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