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Chapter 1 provides an overview of energy use in the U.S. buildings sector, which includes single- and multi-family residences and commercial buildings. Commercial buildings include offices, stores, restaurants, warehouses, other buildings used for commercial purposes, and government buildings. Section 1.1 presents data on primary energy consumption, as well as energy consumption by end use. Section 1.2 focuses on energy and fuel expenditures in U.S. buildings. Section 1.3 provides estimates of construction spending, R&D, and construction industry employment. Section 1.4 covers emissions from energy use in buildings, construction waste, and other environmental impacts. Section 1.5 discusses key measures used throughout the Data Book, such as a quad, primary versus delivered energy, and carbon emissions. Section 1.6 provides estimates of embodied energy for various commercial building assemblies. The main points from this chapter are summarized below:
In 2010, China took the United States’ place as the largest consumer of energy in the world. Between 2008 and 2010, energy consumption in the U.S. decreased by 2% to 97.8 quads, whereas China’s energy consumption increased by 22.9% to 104.6 quads. (1.1.13) Meanwhile, China’s carbon dioxide emissions continued to rise at a notable rate, 21% between 2008 and 2010. The U.S.’s carbon dioxide emissions decreased 3% over the same period. U.S. buildings have come to represent an increasing portion of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions—40% in 2009, compared to 33% in 1980; yet, the fast growth rate of global emissions means that emissions from U.S. buildings have become a declining percentage of the global total—8.5% in 1980, compared to 7.1% in 2009. (1.4.1).
The decline in U.S. energy consumption can be attributed to the economic recession, which has had a particularly hard impact on the building sector. Total energy expenditures in the building sector decreased 8% to 417.8 billion from 2008 to 2009, the largest percent drop in the last 30 years. (1.2.3) The value of new building construction dropped again for the fourth year in a row and was valued at 377.4 billion, 55% less than at its peak in 2006, when new building construction was valued at 843.6 billion. (1.3.2) As expected, the number of people employed in architecture and construction has also decreased since 2006. More than 7.9 million people were employed in the two industries then, compared to 5.7 million in 2010, a 27% drop. (1.3.7).
Forty-one percent of U.S. primary energy was consumed by the buildings sector, compared to 30% by the industrial sector and 29% by the transportation sector. Of the 39 quads consumed in the buildings sector, homes accounted for 54% and commercial buildings accounted for 46% (1.1.3). Of the energy sources used by the U.S. buildings sector, 75% came from fossil fuels, 16% from nuclear generation, and 9% from renewables. (1.1.8)
