A Look at Office Buildings
Are they on multibuilding complexes?
How do they use energy and how much does it cost?
How do they use electricity?
How do they use electricity?
Office buildings use 198 billion kWh (or 676 trillion Btu) of site electricity (electricity consumed within the building) each year.
The majority of this electricity is used for lighting and office equipment (such as computers, printers, faxes and photocopiers). Both lighting and office equipment produce heat, requiring more air conditioning—another predominantly electric end use—to cool the buildings.
Office buildings have an electricity intensity of 18.9 kWh per square foot (for only those buildings that use electricity), somewhat higher than the average for all commercial buildings.
Large (over 50,000 square feet) office buildings use electricity more intensively than smaller buildings; they also pay less per kilowatthour, possibly because higher consumers of energy are offered better rates by their utilities.
Table 5: Electricity consumption and cost by size category
On average, $1.34 per square foot is spent on site electricity in office buildings, more than the national average for electricity usage in commercial buildings ($0.99 per square foot).
Continue: How do they use natural gas?
Go to "How do they use electricity?" for other building types:
Specific questions may be directed to:
Joelle Davis Michaels
joelle.michaels@eia.doe.gov
CBECS Manager
Phone:
(202) 586-8952
FAX:
(202) 586-0018
URL: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/consumptionbriefs/cbecs/pbawebsite/office/office_howuseelec.htm
Release
date: September 11, 2000
File last modified:
January 3, 2001