ABSTRACT
The annual expenditure on residential energy by U.S. households with family income under $5,000 averages $818, more than half the average for households with family incomes ten times greater. With about 6 million (6%) of U.S. households having incomes less than $5,000, and about 25 million (27%) having incomes below $15,000 a year, it is
not surprising that today’s high energy costs are an important obstacle to affordable housing (Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1990). According to U.S. Senator Timothy Wirth, Chairman of the Alliance to Save Energy (1989), energy bills account for about a fifth of the typical monthly housing expense in the U.S., but more than a third of the housing cost of low-income families. After rent or mortgage payments, energy is the largest cost of housing.
