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Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)

2007 CBECS Large Hospital Building FAQs Main Report | Methodology | FAQ | List of Tables

CBECS 2007 - Release date: August 17, 2012

  1. How were the data collected for this study?
    These data were collected with the 2007 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). See the 2007 CBECS Large Hospital Building Methodology Report for details.
  2. Why are you publishing estimates only for large hospitals and not the rest of the commercial building population?
    A majority of the 2007 CBECS buildings were sampled from a frame that used a less expensive experimental method to update the 2003 frame for new construction. After careful analysis, EIA determined that the buildings sampled from this experimental frame were not representative of the commercial building population and therefore the 2007 CBECS sample as a whole did not meet EIA standards for quality, credible energy information. However, the large hospital buildings in this report are a subset of the CBECS sample that were not sampled from the experimental frame. They were sampled from high-quality, well-established lists of hospitals, Federal buildings, and other large buildings. EIA did a thorough evaluation of this frame and the data collected from its sampled units and deemed them to be representative of the large hospital building population as a whole.
  3. Are other building types from special frames also publishable?
    Unfortunately they are not. For all other building types, a substantial portion of the sample came from the experimental frame and these sampled buildings are not representative of the population of their respective building type as a whole.
  4. Are you going to publish end use consumption estimates (i.e. consumption for heating, cooling, lighting, water heating, cooking, etc.) for large hospitals?
    At this time, EIA does not have the available resources to publish 2007 end use consumption estimates for large hospitals. (End use consumption breakdowns are produced using engineering-based models.)
  5. How do these data compare to the 2003 CBECS large hospitals?
    See these graphs, with comparisons between the 2003 and 2007 large hospital estimates overall and by Census region: 2003-2007 Comparison Graphs
  6. Can I get this information by state (or city, or county, etc.)?
    No, due to sample size and confidentiality issues, State-level estimates (or anything geographically smaller) are not available. The smallest level of geographic detail for which data are available are Census regions, of which there are four in the United States.
  7. Will there be a public use data file for large hospitals?
    At this time, EIA does not have the available resources to release a 2007 public use data file for large hospitals.
  8. Is it possible to obtain a list of all the buildings that participated in this survey?
    No, CBECS respondent information is kept strictly confidential. The names or addresses of individual respondents or any other individually identifiable data that could be specifically linked to an individual sample building or building respondent are seen only by select employees of EIA, its survey contractor, and EIA-approved agents. The data are kept secure and confidential at all times in compliance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA). The legislation gives EIA both the authority and the responsibility to protect from disclosure identifiable data that respondents have been promised would be kept confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes. The CBECS meets these criteria, and the 2007 cycle was collected under CIPSEA protection.

For further information, contact:

Katie Lewis
katie.lewis@eia.gov

Jay Olsen
jay.olsen@eia.gov