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 natural gas?
How do they use natural gas?
Office buildings use 233 billion cubic feet (or 239 trillion Btu) of natural gas annually.
The majority of this natural gas is used for space heating and water heating.
The natural gas intensity (for only buildings that use natural gas) in office buildings is 35.7 cubic feet per square foot, one of the lowest among all commercial building types.
Small (1,001 to 5,000 square feet) office buildings use natural gas more intensively than larger office buildings. There are several possible explanations for this: smaller buildings may have less office equipment that gives off heat, therefore requiring more space heating; they may have less efficient heating systems; or, because they have relatively more wall surface than do larger buildings, they may be more affected by weather than are larger buildings.
Large (over 50,000 square feet) office buildings pay less per cubic foot of natural gas than do smaller ones. This may be because the higher consumers of energy are offered better rates by their utilities.
Table 6: Natural gas consumption and cost by size category
On average, $0.18 per square foot is spent on natural gas in office buildings, less than the national average for natural gas usage in commercial buildings ($0.24 per square foot).
Continue: What types of equipment do they use?
Go to "How do they use natural gas?" 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_howuseng.htm
Release
date: September 11, 2000
File last modified:
January 3, 2001