Nonresponse in Residential Energy Surveys: Systematic Patterns and Implications for End-Use Models

Surveys-one of the most widely used tools for collecting information relevant to studying residential energy consumption-are both a boon and a bane to researchers. The data can be used to calculate appliance and insulation saturations and, when combined with billing information, used to model household demand for energy. Unfortunately, most of these surveys, commonly known as residential appliance saturation surveys, have an inherent problem associated with incomplete responses. This particularly applies to questions regarding energy-related characteristics of the housing units, such as whether or not the units are insulated.