
Electricity and natural gas usage increased by 19% and 7%, respectively, since 2003, the last year for which CBECS results are available, while fuel oil and district heat usage decreased by 41% and 46%, respectively.

commercial buildings used 6,963 trillion Btu of total site energy 1: 4,241 trillion British thermal units (Btu) of electricity, 2,248 trillion Btu of natural gas, 134 trillion Btu of fuel oil (in CBECS reports, the fuel oil designation includes distillate fuel oil, diesel, and kerosene 2), and 341 trillion Btu of district heat (steam or hot water from a utility or from a campus central plant). Results from the CBECS show that in 2012, U.S. The detailed data can be found in Tables C1-C38 and E1-E11. The following discussion and graphs provide an overview of the consumption estimates. To learn more, see How was energy usage information collected in the 2012 CBECS? Through CBECS and these modeling efforts, EIA is able to provide the only comprehensive source of detailed information on energy use in the wide variety of commercial buildings across the United States. Results from the building interviews released about a year ago were combined with energy consumption data provided by building respondents or their energy suppliers and NOAA weather data to model how energy is consumed within buildings. The 2012 CBECS was a multi-year effort that began with constructing a comprehensive list of commercial buildings, selecting a statistically representative sample from that list, and conducting 6,720 interviews onsite across the United States. Since 2003, for example, space heating and lighting are each down by 11 percentage points in their share of energy use in buildings. (See the 2012 CBECS Building Characteristics results.) The improved efficiency of key energy-consuming equipment is also decreasing demand. Slower growth in commercial building energy demand since 2003 is explained in part by newer construction that is built to higher energy performance standards, occupied by less energy intensive building activities, and more often built in temperate regions.

commercial buildings was up just 7% during the same period, according to new analysis from the 2012 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). 2012 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey: Energy Usage SummaryĬBECS 2012 - Release date: Ma(links to data tables updated May 2021)ĭespite a 14% increase in total buildings and a 22% increase in total floorspace since 2003, energy use in the estimated 5.6 million U.S.
