Released: Dec 2006

For nearly all of the CBECS building activities, collection of the data with a building-level questionnaire is straightforward because a knowledgeable respondent can provide accurate information during the interview. However, use of a building questionnaire for two types of mercantile buildings—strip shopping centers and enclosed malls—creates special problems. These buildings contain anywhere from a few to more than 100 establishments, and each of the establishments has characteristics that can—and do—vary significantly from the other establishments. Therefore, no single respondent may be knowledgeable about the mall building and all of its establishments.

Instead of conducting a single building interview, we interviewed a subsample of up to three individual establishments within each sampled mall building using an establishment questionnaire and, in addition, interviewed a representative of enclosed malls to collect information on the common area of those malls. We used publicly available information and data from a purchased shopping mall database in combination with establishment data collected by CBECS to estimate the square footage of mall buildings.

We present the building characteristics data with two sets of building characteristics tables. Tables A1-A8 include all commercial buildings while tables B1-B46 exclude mall buildings. Tables A1-A8 have a limited number of row categories—only those for which CBECS collected complete building information. The rowstub categories are building floorspace, principal building activity, year constructed, Census Region and Division, and number of establishments. The data in these tables are representative of the entire commercial buildings sector and the data are comparable with previous CBECS. Table Set B (which begins with Non-Mall Buildings) has the full range of row categories of previous CBECS, but excludes mall buildings; therefore, these data are not directly comparable to previous CBECS.

Similarly, there are two sets of consumption and expenditures tables. Tables C1-C38 exclude mall buildings while tables C1A-C38A include all commercial buildings. Tables C1-C38 have the full range of row categories of previous CBECS, but they exclude mall buildings; therefore, these data are not directly comparable to previous CBECS. Tables C1-C38 have the same limited row categories as Tables A1-A8 (see previous paragraph). The data in these tables are representative of the entire commercial buildings sector and the data are comparable with previous CBECS.

Figures 1 and 2 show the "All Buildings" and "Principal Building Activity (PBA)" row categories for Tables A1 and B1. Within the PBA category, the number of buildings and total floorspace are the same for both tables except for the "Mercantile" category. In Table A1 (Figure 1), "Enclosed and Strip Malls" are included. It is the buildings of this category that are excluded from all set B tables. These buildings total 213 thousand (4.4 percent) and 6.9 million square feet of floorspace (9.6 percent).

Figure 1. "All Buildings" and "Principal Building Activity" of Table A1

Table A1. Summary Table for All Buildings (Including Malls), 2003
	Number of Buildings (thousand)	Total Floorspace (million sq. ft.)	Mean Square Feet per Building (thousand)	Median Square Feet per Building (thousand)
All Buildings…	4,859	71,658	14.7	5.0
Principal Building Activity
—Education…	386	9,874	25.6	7.0
—Food Sales …	226	1,255	5.6	2.8
—Food Service …	297	1,654	5.6	3.5
—Health Care	129	3,163	24.6	6.0
——Inpatient…	8	1,905	241.4	106.0
——Outpatient…	121	1,258	10.4	6.0
—Lodging…	142	5,096	35.8	12.5
—Mercantile…	657	11,192	17.0	6.9
——Retail (other than mall)…	443	4,317	9.7	4.8
——Enclosed and Strip Malls…	213	6,875	32.2	12.3
—Office…	824	12,208	14.8	4.0
—Public Assembly…	277	3,939	14.2	6.7
—Public Order and Safety…	71	1,090	15.5	5.0
—Religious Worship…	370	3,754	10.1	6.0
—Service…	622	4,050	6.5	2.8
—Warehouse and Storage…	597	10,078	16.9	5.2
—Other…	79	1,738	21.9	4.6
—Vacant…	182	2,567	14.1	3.7

Figure 2. "All Non-Mall Buildings" and "Principal Building Activity" of Table B1

Table B1. Summary Table for Non-Mall Buildings, 2003
	Number of Buildings (thousand)	Total Floorspace (million sq. ft.)	Total Workers (thousand)	Mean Square Feet per Building (thousand)	Mean Square Feet per Worker	Mean Hours per Week
All Non-Mall Buildings…	4,645	64,783	72,807	13.9	890	79
Principal Building Activity
—Education…	386	9,874	12,489	25.6	791	556
—Food Sales …	226	1,255	1,430	5.6	877	107
—Food Service …	297	1,654	3,129	5.6	528	108
—Health Care	129	3,163	6,317	24.6	501	61
——Inpatient…	8	1,905	3,716	241.4	513	168
——Outpatient…	121	1,258	2,600	10.4	484	554
—Lodging…	142	5,096	2,457	35.8	2,074	167
—Retail (Other than Mall) …	443	4,317	3,463	9.7	1,246	59
—Office…	824	12,208	28,154	14.8	434	70
—Public Assembly…	277	3,939	2,395	14.2	1,645	71
—Public Order and Safety…	71	1,090	1,347	15.5	809	154
—Religious Worship…	370	3,754	1,706	10.1	2,200	48
—Service…	622	4,050	3,667	6.5	1,105	76
—Warehouse and Storage…	597	10,078	4,369	16.9	2,306	116
—Other…	79	1,738	1,819	21.9	956	95
—Vacant…	182	2,567	64	14.1	39,886	15

Released: Dec 2006

• Column Categories
• Row Categories

The detailed tables for the 2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) consist of building characteristics tables (A1-A8 and B1-B46), which contain the number of buildings and amount of floorspace for major building characteristics, and consumption and expenditures tables (C1-C38 and C1A-C38A), which contain energy usage data.

Tables A1-A8 and C1A-C38A contain basic information for all buildings including malls, whereas Tables B1-B46 and C1-C38 contain information only for non-mall buildings. Click here for further explanation of the differences.

Tables B1 and B2 are summary tables. Tables B3-B21 address location, building size, year constructed, building activity, number of workers, hours of operation, and types of occupancy. Tables B22-B33 contain data about the energy sources used for all end uses and for specific major end uses. Tables B34-B46 contain data about percent of floorspace heated, cooled, and lit, and energy-using equipment types (heating, cooling, water heating, lighting, and refrigeration).

Tables C1-C12 and C1A-C12A contain energy usage data for the total of all major fuels (electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, and district heat). Tables C13-C22 and C13A-C22A contain electricity usage data. Tables C23-C32 and C23A-C32A contain natural gas usage data. Tables C33-C36 and C33A-C36A contain fuel oil usage data. Tables C37, C38, C37A, and C38A contain district heat usage data.

Column Categories

The column categories in the building characteristics tables mainly provide counts of number of buildings or total floorspace by various building characteristics. For example, in Table A2, the number in the "All Buildings" row and in the column labeled "Northeast" under the heading "Number of Buildings (thousand)" tells us that there were an estimated 761,000 buildings in the Northeast Census Region in 2003. This same column under the heading "Total Floorspace (million square feet)" tells us that these buildings comprised 13,995,000,000 square feet of total floorspace.

The column categories in the energy consumption and expenditures tables provide various measures of energy use. The following terms, listed in alphabetical order, are explanations of some of these columns that may require clarification:

Conditional Energy Intensity—The amount of electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, or district heat used per square foot only in buildings using the specified energy source. For example, in Table C15, data in the row labeled "Education" within the "Principal Building Activity" row category and in the column labeled "Northeast" under "Electricity Energy Intensity" should be interpreted: "In 2003, education buildings in the Northeast that used electricity as an energy source used an average of 7.8 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 (50th), and 75th. In Table C14, for example, the row labeled "Over 500,000" within the "Building Floorspace" row category and in the column labeled "25th Percentile" under "Distribution of Building-Level Intensities" should be interpreted: "In 2003, 25 percent of buildings in the U.S. larger than 500,000 square feet used 10.0 kWh per square foot or less, and 75 percent of these buildings used more than 10.0 kWh 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" within the "Principal Building Activity" row category and in the column labeled "Northeast" under "Energy Intensity for Sum of Major Fuels" should be interpreted: "In 2003, education buildings in the Northeast consumed an average of 101.6 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, transmission, and distribution of the electricity. Most of the tables present statistics for site consumption alone, but Tables C1 and C13 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, transmission, and distribution 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 just the term "electricity" is used, the reference is to site electricity.

Sum of Major Fuels—The total 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. Some of these categories are followed by the phrase "more than one may apply." This indicates overlapping categories, so that a particular building may be represented in more than one line under this stub (for example, in "Energy Sources," a building can use both electricity and natural gas). In general, row stubs without this designation are mutually exclusive—that is, they divide the population of buildings into distinct groups, so that a particular building is represented in no more than one line under this stub.

Any line within a row category that is indented should be interpreted as being a subset of the preceding line. For example, in the row category "Principal Building Activity," there are two indented lines under "Health Care"—"Inpatient" and "Outpatient." These are both subsets of the "Health Care" category.

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. Definitions of most terms found in the Detailed Tables can also be found in the Glossary.

All Buildings—In Tables A1 through A8, these are 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). In Tables B1 through B46 and C1 through C38, these are the same except they do not include enclosed malls or strip shopping centers.

Principal Building Activity—A classification of the activity that occupies the most floorspace in the buildings. Some building types are combined in the tables. For example, refrigerated and non-refrigerated warehouses were combined as "warehouses," and skilled nursing care buildings were included in "lodging." See Description of Building Types 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 30-year period (1971-2000). See U.S. Climate Zone Map for a map that shows the five U.S. climate zones.

Vacancy Status—"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 2003; and "Not At All Vacant" are those in which no portion of the building was reported as vacant in 2003.

Renovations in Buildings Constructed Before 1980—Buildings that were constructed in 1980 or any later year were not asked the question about renovations. So, in this row category, the line "Any Type of Renovation Since 1980" shows the number of buildings constructed before 1980 that have had any renovations since 1980, "No Renovations Since 1980" shows the number of buildings constructed before 1980 that have not had any renovations since 1980, and the last line, "Building Newer than 1980" shows the number of buildings that were not asked this question because they were constructed after 1980.

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]) for any purpose. In the building characteristics tables, this row indicates the number of buildings or floorspace in buildings that use each energy source for any purpose. For example, in Table B38 (Heating Equipment), the figure in the column "Furnaces" and the row "Natural Gas" should be interpreted: "1,314,000 buildings have a furnace and also use natural gas for some purpose."

In the consumption and expenditures tables, this row indicates total consumption in buildings that use each energy source for any purpose. For example, in Table C3, the figure in the column "Sum of Major Fuel Consumption per Square Foot" and the row "Fuel Oil" should be interpreted: "Buildings that used fuel oil for any purpose consumed an average 116,100 Btu of total fuels per square foot in 2003." (It should NOT be interpreted as the consumption specifically of fuel oil.)

Energy End Uses—Buildings in which the specific end uses (heating, air-conditioning, water heating, cooking, and manufacturing) were present, NOT the actual amount of energy used for each end use. For example, in Table C1, data in the "Buildings with Cooling" row and in the "Sum of Major Fuels" column should interpreted: "Buildings with cooling consumed a total of 5,464 trillion Btu of the major fuels" (It should NOT be interpreted as the amount of energy specifically used for cooling"). Neither Table Sets C1-C38 nor C1A-C38A contain any data on the energy consumption for end uses specifically. End use consumption estimates will be published at a future date.

Space-Heating Energy Sources—Buildings using at least one of the major fuels, propane, wood, or any other energy source for space heating. In the building characteristics tables, this row indicates the number of buildings or floorspace in buildings that use each energy source for space heating. For example, in Table B38 (Heating Equipment), the figure in the column "Heat Pumps" and the row "Natural Gas" should be interpreted: "124,000 buildings have a heat pump and also use natural gas as an energy source for space heating." (It should NOT be interpreted as the number of buildings that use natural gas to power a heat pump. It is possible that they also use electricity for space heating, and that electricity is the energy source used for the heat pump.)

In the consumption and expenditures tables, this row indicates total consumption in buildings that use each energy source for space heating. For example, in Table C23, the figure in the column "Natural Gas Consumption" and the row "Natural Gas" should be interpreted: "1,749 billion cubic feet of natural gas were used in buildings that use natural gas for space heating." (It should NOT be interpreted as the consumption of natural gas specifically for space heating.)

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. In the building characteristics tables, this row indicates the number of buildings or floorspace in buildings that use each energy source for primary space heating. For example, in Table B38 (Heating Equipment), the figure in the column "Furnaces" and the row "Electricity" should be interpreted: "296,000 buildings have a furnace and also use electricity as their primary space-heating energy source." (It should NOT be interpreted as the number of buildings that use electricity to power a furnace. It is possible that they use natural gas as a secondary space-heating energy source, and that natural gas is used as the energy source for the furnace.)

In the consumption and expenditures tables, this row indicates total consumption in buildings that use each energy source for primary space heating. For example, in Table C23, the figure in the column "Natural Gas Consumption" and the row "Electricity" should be interpreted: "171 billion cubic feet of natural gas were used in buildings that use electricity as their primary space heating energy source."

Cooling Energy Source—Buildings using electricity, natural gas, or district chilled water for cooling. In the building characteristics tables, this row indicates the number of buildings or floorspace in buildings that use each energy source for cooling. For example, in Table B40 (Cooling Equipment), the figure in the column "Heat Pumps" and the row "Natural Gas" should be interpreted: "8,000 buildings have a heat pump for cooling and also use natural gas for cooling." (It should NOT be interpreted as the number of buildings that use natural gas to power a heat pump. It is possible that the heat pump is powered by electricity while the natural gas is used to run a chiller.)

In the consumption and expenditures tables, this row indicates total consumption in buildings that use each energy source for cooling. For example, in Table C13, the figure in the column "Site Electricity Consumption" and the row "Electricity" should be interpreted: "814 billion kWh of total electricity were used in buildings that use electricity as a cooling energy source." (It should NOT be interpreted as the consumption of electricity specifically for cooling.)

Water-Heating Energy Source—Buildings using one of the major fuels or propane for water heating. In the building characteristics tables, this row indicates the number of buildings or floorspace in buildings that use each energy source for water heating.

In the consumption and expenditures tables, this row indicates total consumption in buildings that use each energy source for water heating. For example, in Table C23, the figure in the column "Natural Gas Consumption" and the row "Natural Gas" should be interpreted: "1,463 billion cubic feet of natural gas were used in buildings that use natural gas for water heating." (It should NOT be interpreted as the consumption of natural gas specifically for water heating.)

Cooking Energy Source—Buildings using electricity, natural gas, or propane for cooking. In the building characteristics tables, this row indicates the number of buildings or floorspace in buildings that use each energy source for cooking.

In the consumption and expenditures tables, this row indicates total consumption in buildings that use each energy source for cooking. For example, in Table C13, the figure in the column "Site Electricity Consumption" and the row "Electricity" should be interpreted: "249 billion kWh of electricity were used in buildings that use electricity for cooking." (It should NOT be interpreted as the consumption of electricity specifically for cooking.)

Refrigeration Equipment—In the 2003 CBECS, the refrigeration questions were changed to include residential-type units and vending machines. As a consequence, the "Any Refrigeration" line includes many more buildings than the line in the 1999 CBECS "Commercial Refrigeration Equipment" row category labeled "Any Equipment." So, the second line in the 2003 table, "Commercial Refrigeration" has been specified to be comparable to the 1999 "Any Equipment" row; it includes only walk-in units and refrigerated cases or cabinets.

Office Equipment—Within this row category, the line "With Flat Screen Monitors" may need some clarification. This line represents the number of buildings in which at least one of their computers has a flat screen (LCD) monitor. For example, in Table B1, the first two lines of this row category should be interpreted as: "There are about 3,081,000 buildings that have at least one computer; there are about 877,000 buildings for which at least one of the computers in the building has a flat screen monitor."

Equipment Usage Reduced When Building Not In Full Use—The figure in the "Office Equipment" line of this row category is much higher than it was in the 1999 CBECS; this is not due to drastic increases in behavior, but instead to differences between the two surveys. In 1999, the question about whether computers and office equipment were turned off when the building was closed was asked only if there were 20 or more computers in the building. In 2003, it was asked of every building with any computers.