Electronic Bulletin, April 2012, No. 13

Electronic Bulletin
Public Affairs Section, U.S. Consulate General, Hong Kong
April 2012, No. 13

(The Electronic Bulletin is an information service published by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General and provided to subscribers by e-mail and fax. Except for the U.S. Government sites, the opinions expressed on the Internet sites listed here do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Government.)

Effective Tracking of Building Energy Use: Improving the Commercial Buildings and Residential Energy Consumption Surveys
William F. Eddy and Krisztina Marton, Editors; Panel on Redesigning the Commercial Buildings and Residential Energy Consumption Surveys of the Energy Information Administration; National Research Council
National Academies Press
2012

The publication is available online.

The United States is responsible for nearly one-fifth of the world's energy consumption. Population growth, and the associated growth in housing, commercial floor space, transportation, goods, and services is expected to cause a 0.7 percent annual increase in energy demand for the foreseeable future. The energy used by the commercial and residential sectors represents approximately 40 percent of the nation's total energy consumption, and the share of these two sectors is expected to increase in the future.

The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) and Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) are two major surveys conducted by the Energy Information Administration. The surveys are the most relevant sources of data available to researchers and policy makers on energy consumption in the commercial and residential sectors. Many of the design decisions and operational procedures for the CBECS and RECS were developed in the 1970s and 1980s, and resource limitations during much of the time since then have prevented EIA from making significant changes to the data collections. Effective Tracking of Building Energy Use makes recommendations for redesigning the surveys based on a review of evolving data user needs and an assessment of new developments in relevant survey methods.

(Source: Copied from the description of the publication)

Subject: Environment