A Look at Retail and Service Buildings
How do they use energy and how much does it cost?
How do they use energy and how much does it cost?
Retail and service buildings account for 18 percent of all commercial energy consumption, using a total of 973 trillion Btu of combined site electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, and district steam or hot water. They are the second highest consumer of energy of all the building types (see total energy figure on home page).
Natural gas and electricity are the predominant fuels used in retail and service buildings, with electricity used slightly more than natural gas.
Site electricity is the amount of electricity consumed within the building; electricity use can also be expressed as primary electricity, which includes the energy consumed in generating and transmitting electricity. Retail and service buildings used 1,553 trillion Btu of primary electricity, which brings the total energy consumption for retail and service buildings up to 1,998 trillion Btu, or 19 percent of total primary consumption for all commercial buildings.
Space heating and lighting together account for over 70 percent of all the energy used in retail and service buildings. Cooling and water heating are the next most energy consuming uses in retail and service buildings.
Retail and service buildings use an average of 0.8 billion Btu per building and have an energy intensity of 76.4 thousand Btu per square foot. This is one of the lower intensities among all commercial building types (see total energy per square foot figure on home page).
Table 4: Major fuel consumption and cost by type of retail or service and size category
Retail and service buildings are second in the amount of money spent on energy (preceeded only by office buildings)—$14.0 billion per year—the majority of this on electricity. The energy expenditures in these buildings account for 20 percent of all commercial energy expenditures.
On average, $1.10 per square foot is spent on energy in retail and service buildings, slightly less than the national average for energy usage in commercial buildings ($1.19 per square foot).
Forecasts
The Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting (OIAF) uses CBECS data to make commercial sector energy use projections. For estimates of commercial building consumption (and floorspace) from 1998 to 2020, see Table 22 of Supplement Tables to the AEO2000.
Continue: How do they use electricity?
Go to "How do they use energy and how much does it cost?" for other building types:
- Office
- Education
- Health Care
- Retail and Service
- Food Service
Specific questions may be directed to:
Joelle Davis Michaels
joelle.michaels@eia.doe.gov
CBECS Manager
URL: http://www.eia.gov/emeu/consumptionbriefs/cbecs/pbawebsite/retailserv/retserv_howuseenergy.htm
Release
date: September 11, 2000
File last modified:
January 3, 2001