Fax and Photocopier Machines in 2001 RECS

Among the appliances enumerated in the 2001 Residential Energy Consumption Survey were "separate" fax machines and "separate" photocopiers. The adjective separate is an addition in response to the questions asked about these two appliances. This addition is due to the availability of affordable personal computer printers that also have built-in fax and copier features. Accordingly, in addition to the modification of the fax and photocopier machines questions, a new question, “Some printers have built-in fax and copier features; Is your printer one of these? ” was added to the questionnaire and asked of those respondents who reported having any type of printer attached to their personal computer.

Table 1 presents the number of housing units using fax and photocopier machines as reported in the 1993, 1997, and 2001 RECS. In 2001, 23.6 million households had a fax machine with more than half (53.3 percent) as a feature of a PC printer. There were also 20.0 million households with photocopier machines; nearly two-thirds of those (63.0 percent) were a feature of a PC printer.

Table 1. U.S. Housing Units Using Fax and Photocopier Machines
	1993		1997		2001
	Number (millions)	Percent	Number (millions)	Percent	Number (millions)	Percent
Fax Machines—Total	2.9	3.0	n/a	n/a	23.6	22.1
-Separate	2.9	3.0	6.3	6.2	11.0	10.3
-PC Printer Feature	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	12.6	11.8
Photocopier Machines—Total	1.5	1.6	n/a	n/a	20.0	18.7
-Separate	1.5	1.6	3.8	3.7	7.4	6.9
-PC Printer Feature	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	12.6	11.8
PC Printer with Fax/Copier Features	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	12.6	11.8
Prior to the 2001 RECS respondents were not asked if they if their PC printer had fax/copier features. Such combination printer/fax/copier machines were generally not available in 1993.

A comparison of 2001 with 1993 reveals that over eight times as many households reported having a fax machine in 2001, 23.6 million, than the 2.9 million that reported having one in 1993. Similarly over thirteen times as many households reported having a photocopier machine in 2001, 20.0 million, than the 1.5 million that reported having one in 1993. These comparisons of separate fax and photocopier machines in 1993 with the combined total of separate machines and those that are features of a PC printer in 2001 can safely be made since in 1993 PC printers with such features were not widely available. Similar comparisons between 1997 and 2001 cannot be made since such PC printers were available but not enumerated in the 1997 RECS.

Fax and Photocopier Machines 2001 Residential Energy Consumption Survey

Fax and Photocopier Machines
2001 Residential Energy Consumption Survey