The Northeast, which has the highest electricity costs, uses the least electricity. Household gas consumption is greatest in the Midwest, where costs are lowest, and lowest in the West, probably due to the milder climate. Consumption by End Use Multifamily households also have different patterns of end-use energy consumption than other households. These different patterns are due to differences in building exposure, utility metering, appliance stock, and household behavior. Appliance use is lower in multifamily households partly because there are fewer clothes washers and dryers in these buildings.
Refrigerators tend to be smaller, manual defrost models, which accounts for their lower consumption.
Lower air conditioning use is probably related to the smaller size of multifamily households and to lower income levels. Domestic hot water is the largest end use after space heating and represents a major target for potential energy savings in multifamily buildings. End uses do not add up to total consumption because the number of households differs by end use. Data from Household Energy Consumption and Expenditures 1990, p. 59. Although this article has presented a lot of numbers, the multifamily sector is more than a statistical compilation of floor areas, numbers of apartments, and units of energy consumption.