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Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)

1999 CBECS Survey Data 2018 | 2012 | 2003 | 1999 | 1995 | 1992 |

Building Characteristics

Data from the 1999 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) are presented in the Building Characteristics tables, which include number of buildings and total floorspace for various Building Characteristics, and Consumption and Expenditures tables, which include energy usage figures for major energy sources.

Complete sets of RSE tables (What is an RSE?) are also available in PDF format

See 1999 to 2012 CBECS Terminology for definitions specific to this survey cycle

1999 Summary Tables for all principal building activities

Summary Tables For All Principal Building Activities

Number of Buildings (thousand) Floorspace (million square feet) Square Feet per Building (thousand) Median Age of Building (years)
All Buildings 4,657 67,338 14.5 30.5
Principal Building Activity
Education 327 8,651 26.4 35.5
Food Sales 174 994 5.7 19.5
Food Service 349 1,851 5.3 27.5
Health Care 127 2,918 22.9 23.5
- Inpatient 11 1,865 168.2 36.5
- Outpatient 116 1,053 9.1 22.5
Lodging 153 4,521 29.5 28.5
- Lodging (other than nursing) 128 3,838 30.1 29.5
- Skilled Nursing 25 683 26.9 16.5
Mercantile 667 10,398 15.6 36.5
- Retail (other than mall) 534 4,766 8.9 40.5
- Strip Malls 131 3,950 30.2 24.5
- Enclosed Malls 3 1,681 606.8 33.5
Office 739 12,044 16.3 24.5
Public Assembly 305 4,393 14.4 32.5
Public Order and Safety 72 1,168 16.2 24.5
Religious Worship 307 3,405 11.1 38.5
Service 478 3,388 7.1 31.5
Warehouse and Storage 603 10,477 17.4 24.5
- Refrigerated 14 876 Q 46.5
- Nonrefrigerated 590 9,601 16.3 23.5
Other 102 1,222 12.0 30.5
- Other (other than laboratory) 75 798 10.7 31.5
- Laboratory 27 423 15.8 29.5
Vacant 253 1,908 7.6 49.5
Total Employees (thousand) Employees per Building Square Feet per Employee Average Hours Open per Week
All Buildings 81,852 18 823 60
Principal Building Activity
Education 8,927 27 969 50
Food Sales 980 6 1,014 118
Food Service 4,031 12 459 84
Health Care 6,219 49 469 66
- Inpatient 3,350 302 557 165
- Outpatient 2,869 25 367 56
Lodging 2,356 15 1,919 150
- Lodging (other than nursing) 1,526 12 2,515 150
- Skilled Nursing 830 33 823 151
Mercantile 11,384 17 913 65
- Retail (other than mall) 4,668 9 1,021 62
- Strip Malls 5,154 39 766 77
- Enclosed Malls 1,562 564 1,076 75
Office 28,969 39 416 53
Public Assembly 3,147 10 1,396 54
Public Order and Safety 1,702 24 686 95
Religious Worship 1,654 5 2,059 29
Service 4,554 10 744 63
Warehouse and Storage 6,216 10 1,685 49
- Refrigerated 944 Q 928 67
- Nonrefrigerated 5,272 9 1,821 48
Other 1,453 14 841 49
- Other (other than laboratory) 656 9 1,217 49
- Laboratory 797 30 531 49
Vacant 261 1 Q Q

Guide to the 1999 CBECS Detailed Tables

The first set of detailed tables for the 1999 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) consists of building characteristics tables B1 through B39, which contain the number of buildings and amount of floorspace for major building characteristics. Tables B1 and B2 of this set are summary tables. Tables B3 through B16 address location, building size, year constructed, number of workers, hours of operation, and types of occupancy. Tables B17 through B27 contain data about the energy sources used for all end uses and for specific major end uses. Tables B28 through B39 contain data about percent of floorspace heated, cooled, and lit, and energy-using equipment types (heating, cooling, refrigeration, water heating, and lighting).

The second set of tables consists of energy consumption and expenditures tables C1 through C26, which present detailed energy consumption and expenditure data for buildings in the commercial sector. These tables are grouped into major fuel tables (Tables C1 through C8) and specific fuel tables. The specific fuel tables consist of Tables C9 through C14 for electricity, Tables C15 through C20 for natural gas, Tables C21 through C24 for fuel oil, and Tables C25 and C26 for district heat.

Column Categories

The column categories most commonly classify data by building characteristics or by consumption and expenditures. The following data items, listed in alphabetical order, are explanations of some of the column categories found in the set of energy consumption and expenditures tables that may require clarification.

Conditional Energy Intensity—The amount of electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, or district heat used per square foot in only buildings using the specified energy source. For example, in consumption and expenditures Table C11, data in the row labeled "Education" under "Principal Buiding Activity" and in the column labeled "Northeast" under "Electricity Energy Intensity" would be interpreted: "In 1999, education buildings in the Northeast that used electricity as an energy source used 8.2 kilowatthours of electricity per square foot."

Distribution of Building-Level Intensities—The amount of energy used per square foot, divided into three percentiles: 25th, median, and 75th. In Table C10, for example, the row labeled "Over 500,000" under "Building Floorspace" and in the column labeled "25th Percentile" under "Distribution of Building-Level Intensities" would be interpreted: "In 1999, 25 percent of buildings in the U.S. over 500,000 square feet in size used 8.9 kilowatthours per square foot or less. (75 percent of the buildings used more than 8.9 kilowatthours of electricity per square foot.)"

Electricity—Site electricity. (See "site electricity" and "primary electricity" in this listing.)

Energy Intensity—Usually defined as "gross energy intensity" or "conditional energy intensity" in title of table. If table title does not specify, "energy intensity" is to be defined as "conditional energy intensity."

Floorspace—The enclosed area in a building; the sum of the floorspace in all buildings in a category.

Gross Energy Intensity—The ratio of the total amount of energy consumed by a group of buildings to the total floorspace of those buildings, including buildings and floorspace where the energy source is not used. For example, in Table C5, data in the row category "Education" under "Principal Building Activity" and in the column category of "Northeast" under "Energy Intensity for Sum of Major Fuels" would read: "In 1999, education buildings in the Northeast consumed 90.0 thousand Btu per square foot."

Major Fuel—Major energy sources: electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, and district heat (district steam or district hot water). Although electricity is technically not a fuel, "Major Fuel," rather than "Major Energy Source," was retained as the title of this category to facilitate comparison of previous CBECS data.

Primary Electricity—Site electricity plus the losses associated with the generation and transmission of the electricity. Most of the tables present statistics for site consumption alone, but Tables C1 and C9 also provide consumption statistics for primary electricity.

Site Electricity—The amount of electricity delivered to the commercial building. This amount excludes losses associated with the generation and transmission of the electricity. (See "primary electricity" in this listing.) Most of the tables in this section provide statistics for site electricity alone (not for primary electricity). When the term "electricity" is used, the reference is to site electricity.

Total of Major Fuels—The sum of site electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, and district heat. Statistics in this column exclude data from the column "Primary Electricity."

Row Categories

The row categories classify data by specific features, such as principal building activity or energy sources used. Data in the row categories relate to the buildings having such a feature, not to the amount of energy used by a feature. For example, in consumption and expenditures Table C1, the data in the "Major Fuels" column and the row category "Buildings with Cooling" under "Energy End Uses" is to be interpreted as "Buildings with cooling consumed 5,344 trillion Btu of the major fuels" (not "5,344 trillion Btu of the major fuels were used for cooling"). Tables C1 through 26 contain no data on the energy consumption for cooling specifically. Estimates of energy used for specific end uses will be published in early 2003.

Below are explanations of some of the row categories found in the tables that may require clarification. These terms are listed in the order in which they occur in the tables.

All Buildings—All roofed and walled structures whose principal activities are nonresidential, nonagricultural, and nonindustrial and that are larger than 1,000 square feet (roughly twice the size of a two-car garage).

Principal Building Activity—A classificaiton of the activity that occupies the most floorspace in the buildings. Some building types are combined in the tables. For example, inpatient and outpatient health care facilities were combined as "health care buildings," refrigerated and non-refrigerated warehouses were combined as "warehouses," and skilled nursing care buildings were included in "lodging." See "Description of types of buildings" for a full description of the principal building activity categories.

Census Region and Division—The geographical areas as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Census. See "Census Regions and Divisions map" for a map that shows the four Census Regions and nine Census Divisions.

Climate Zone—The five U.S. climate zones are based on the average number of cooling degree-days (CDD) and heating degree-days (HDD) in a 45-year period (1931-1975). See "U.S. Climate Zone map" for a map that shows the five U.S. climate zones.

Vacancy Status—This is a new row stub for the 1999 CBECS. "Completely Vacant" buildings are those that are 100 percent vacant; "Mostly Vacant" buildings are those in which the majority of the floorspace is vacant; "Partially Vacant" are those in which some (but not a majority) of the floorspace is vacant or some portion of the building was vacant for at least three consecutive months in 1999; and "Not At All Vacant" are those in which no portion of the building was reported as vacant in 1999.

Energy Sources—Buildings using a specific type of energy (electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, district heat [district steam or district hot water], district chilled water, propane, and any other type of energy [wood, coal, or solar]). The energy consumption and expenditures tables contain actual consumption data for the first four sources only. Estimates of the amount of wood burned in buildings were obtained during the personal interviews with building respondents. No consumption data were collected for propane, coal, solar energy, or other renewable sources because such a collection effort would not be feasible.

Energy End Uses—Buildings that had specific end uses (heating, air-conditioning, water heating, cooking, and manufacturing), not the amount of energy consumption or expenditures for a particular end use.

Space-Heating Energy Sources—Buildings using at least one of the major fuels, propane, wood, or any other energy source for space heating. (In some tables, this category is subdivided into "Main and Secondary Energy Sources.") Tables C1 through C26 contain no data on the amount of energy consumption or expenditures for space heating specifically. Tables providing information on the amount of electricity or natural gas used specifically for space heating will be published in early 2003.

Primary Space-Heating Energy Source—Buildings using a specific energy source to heat most of the square footage in the building most of the time. Tables C1 through C26 contain no specific data on the amount of energy consumption or expenditures for space heating. Tables providing information on the amount of electricity or natural gas used specifically for space heating will be published in early 2003.

Cooling Energy Source—Buildings using electricity, natural gas, or district chilled water for cooling. Tables C1 through C26 contain no specific data on the amount of energy consumption or expenditures for cooling. Tables providing information on the amount of electricity specifically used for cooling will be published in early 2003.

Water-Heating Energy Source—Buildings using one of the major fuels or propane for water heating. Tables C1 through C26 contain no specific data on the amount of energy consumption or expenditures for water heating. Tables providing information on the amount of electricity or natural gas used specifically for water heating will be published in early 2003.

Cooking Energy Source—Buildings using electricity, natural gas, or propane for cooking. Tables C1 through C26 contain no data specific on the amount of energy consumption or expenditures for cooking. Tables providing information on the amount of electricity or natural gas specifically used for cooking will be published in early 2003.

Building Characteristics Tables for All Buildings (Including Malls) Additional Formats
All Tables (Tables B1-B39, C1-C26, 243 pages, 4.01MB) PDF
All Buildings Characteristics Tables (Tables B1-B39) PDF
Summary (Tables B1-B2) PDF
Table B1. Summary Table: Totals and Means of Floorspace, Number of Workers, and Hours of Operation PDF  XLS
Table B2. Summary Table: Totals and Medians of Floorspace, Number of Workers, Hours of Operation, and Age of Building PDF  XLS
Location (Tables B3-B5) PDF
Table B3. Census Region, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B4. Census Region and Division, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B5. Census Region and Division, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Size and Age (Tables B6-B9) PDF
Table B6. Building Size, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B7. Building Size, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B8. Year Constructed, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B9. Year Constructed, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Employment and Occupancy (Tables B10-B16) PDF
Table B10. Employment Size Category, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B11. Employment Size Category, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B12. Occupancy of Nongovernment-Owned and Government-Owned Buildings, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B13. Occupancy of Nongovernment-Owned and Government-Owned Buildings, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B14. Number of Establishments in Building, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B15. Number of Establishments in Building, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B16. Multibuilding Facilities, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Energy Sources and End Use (Tables B17-B27) PDF
Table B17. Energy Sources, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B18. Energy Sources, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B19. Energy End Uses, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B20. Space-Heating Energy Sources, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B21. Space-Heating Energy Sources, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B22. Primary Space-Heating Energy Sources, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B23. Primary Space-Heating Energy Sources, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B24. Cooling Energy Sources, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B25. Water-Heating Energy Sources, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B26. Water-Heating Energy Sources, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B27. Cooking Energy Sources, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Floorspace Heated, Cooled and Lit (Tables B28-B31) PDF
Table B28. Percent of Floorspace Heated, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B29. Percent of Floorspace Cooled, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B30. Percent of Floorspace Lit When Open, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B31. Heated, Cooled, and Lit Buildings, Floorspace PDF  XLS
End-Use Equipment (Tables B32-B39) PDF
Table B32. Heating Equipment, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B33. Heating Equipment, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B34. Cooling Equipment, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B35. Cooling Equipment, Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B36. Refrigeration Equipment, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B37. Water Heating Equipment, Number of Buildings and Floorspace PDF  XLS
Table B38. Lighting Equipment, Number of Buildings PDF  XLS
Table B39. Lighting Equipment, Floorspace PDF  XLS

1999 CBECS Relative Standard Error (RSE) Tables

Standard error is a measure of the reliability or precision of the survey statistic. The value for the standard error can be used to construct confidence intervals and to perform hypothesis tests by standard statistical methods. Relative Standard Error (RSE) is defined as the standard error (square root of the variance) of a survey estimate, divided by the survey estimate and multiplied by 100. (More information on RSEs)

RSEs are available as a worksheet tab on all of the Excel tables above or in PDF format here:


Questions about CBECS may be directed to:

Joelle Michaels
joelle.michaels@eia.gov
Survey Manager