How many portable power generators are there in North America?

Hello Jason,

According to the CPSC Economics Staff Report on Portable Generators
published on August 22, 2005, there are between 1.1 million and 1.4
million generators in use.

Excerpt:

?Using CPSC?s product population model with estimates of historical
sales, and assuming an average product life of about 6 years, about
1.1 million portable generators were in use in US households in 2003.
If the average product life is as long as 9 years, then the product
population model suggests that as many as 1.4 million generators were
in use in U.S. households in 2003.?


?Based on the Frost & Sullivan study, (North American Portable Power
Markets) about 357,000 light duty portable generators were sold in the
U.S. in 2002. Of these, an estimated 57 percent or about 203,000 units
(representing about $150 million in retail sales) were purchased for
use by homeowners. This is down from the peak year for generator
shipments in 1999, when about 733,000 units of light duty generators
were shipped in the U.S., with perhaps 418,000 for use by homeowners.?


Table: 2: Estimated homeowner purchases of light duty portable
generators, 1999 to 2002

Year     Total U.S. Sales     Sales to Homeowners
1999      733,000             418,000
2000      288,000             164,000
2001      342,000             195,000
2002      357,000             203,000
Frost & Sullivan


Source:
CPSC Economics Staff Report on Portable Generators
August 22, 2005
(11 pages)

Download report here:
http://www.cpsc.gov/volstd/engine/econpg.pdf



According to the April 12, 2004, CPSC Economics Staff Report on
Portable Generators, an estimated 1 million portable generators were
in use in US households.


Excerpt:

?Using CPSC?s product population model with estimates of historical
sales, and assuming an average product life of about 6 years, we
estimate that about 1 million portable generators are  in use in US
households. This is about one-third of the generators reported by EPA
in 1998, suggesting that most of the generators at that time were not
being used by consumers.?


Portable Generators: CPSC Economics Staff Report
United States Consumer Product Safety Association: April 12, 2004
(11 pages) 
Download here:
http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOIA04/os/ecportgen.pdf


Portable Generators CPSC Staff Report
May 20, 2004
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Washington, D.C. 20207
(5 pages)
Download here:
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/portgen.pdf


The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates there are currently
one million portable generators in U.S. households. Most were
purchased due to weather-related power outages.
http://www.kiddeus.com/2004+RR+Storm+Fact+Sheet.shtml

Search terms used:
?power generators" sales units +portable
million portable generators in use

I hope the information provided is helpful!


Best regards,
Bobbie7

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Request for Answer Clarification by jasongriffith-ga on 03 May 2006 10:12 PDT

Hi Bobbie,

Clarification on this:

*commerical* portable generators.

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Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 03 May 2006 10:24 PDT

Please clarify your clarification.

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Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 03 May 2006 10:36 PDT

Dear Jason,

Based on the Frost & Sullivan study, (North American Portable Power
Markets) an estimated 57 percent of power generators were purchased
for use by homeowners.

That means an estimated 43% of power generators are in commercial use.

According to the CPSC Economics Staff Report on Portable Generators
published on August 22, 2005, there are between 1.1 million and 1.4
million generators in use in households.


Using this figure (43%), there are between 830,000 and 1,056,000 power
generators in commercial use.

I hope this helps!

Bobbie7