Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)
CBECS Status
2012 CBECS area frame construction complete
The "area frame" for the 2012 CBECS is complete! Over a 3 month period, 90 field listers created lists of buildings in 307 area segments by walking or driving through every street in these segments and recording every commercial building eligible for CBECS. Of these segments, 257 are new to the 2012 CBECS and 50 were in the 2003 CBECS and are now updated for changes since 2003. There are an additional 461 segments that were listed in 2003 that will also be part of the area frame. See How Will Buildings Be Selected for the 2012 CBECS? for more information on how the sample frame is constructed. EIA and Westat are preparing these lists for the statistical sampling of buildings that will be selected for the 2012 CBECS. The sampling phase is expected to be completed in January 2013, and data collection remains on schedule, with a start date expected in April 2013.
2012 CBECS questionnaire completed
After reviewing 400+ suggestions from stakeholders, the proposed 2012 CBECS questionnaire is currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The survey is administered using a computerized survey instrument, but we've provided a paper representation of the questionnaire (240 pages) and a summary of the major changes (7 pages) here. Because the computer automates all the question skip patterns, the survey is not as long or complicated as it appears!
2012 CBECS field lister training completed
A major milestone in the 2012 CBECS sample frame construction is complete! EIA and Westat, the CBECS survey contractor, trained the listers, which are the field staff that will create the area frame portion of the sample frame. See How Will Buildings Be Selected for the 2012 CBECS? for more information on how the sample frame is constructed. Two training sessions of three and a half days each were held in Bethesda, Maryland from September 6 through September 12, 2012. About 90 listers from across the U.S. were trained using a mix of classroom education and practice listings around the streets of Bethesda. They learned all about EIA, the CBECS, and how to canvass their assigned geographic areas to list all CBECS-eligible buildings and record the information that is needed to select the sample of buildings that will be interviewed.
The field listers' hard work and attention to detail will ensure that the sample frame is accurate and complete. They are enthusiastic about working on CBECS and ready to begin their assignments. One field supervisor with many years of experience on various surveys said: "I can't think of a more important study to be working on right now."
The listing is now underway and will be complete in November 2012. The sample, significantly larger than previous cycles, will be selected in January 2013 and the interviewing of the sampled buildings will begin in April 2013.
EIA collects data on water usage in commercial buildings for the first time
The 2007 round of CBECS was the first time in the 30 year history of CBECS that commercial buildings were surveyed about water consumption and characteristics. These questions were experimental, and EIA found the collection of this data to be successful. See Water Data Collection in the 2007 CBECS for details. EIA plans to collect water consumption data again in the 2012 CBECS.
EIA releases data on large hospitals from the 2007 CBECS
Though most of the data collected as part of the CBECS 2007 cycle could not be released, EIA has been able to produce data on energy characteristics found in large hospitals in 2007. The data include estimates of building characteristics, energy sources, end uses, energy management features, energy consumption, and water consumption for hospital buildings greater than 200,000 square feet. See Energy Characteristics and Energy Consumed in Large Hospital Buildings in the United States in 2007 for a discussion of the estimates, table list for detailed tables, and 2007 CBECS Large Hospital Building Methodology Report for a methodological report.
Under construction: the CBECS sampling frame
EIA and the CBECS survey contractor (Westat) are working hard right now to create the CBECS sampling "frame," which is the list from which buildings will be randomly selected to be interviewed. For the details of how the CBECS sampling frame is constructed, see: How Will Buildings Be Selected for the 2012 CBECS?
CBECS enters the final phase of questionnaire design
EIA thanks the U.S. Green Building Council for hosting an informative 2012 CBECS Stakeholder Meeting on May 15, 2012. We had about 20 participants attending in-person and another 40 or 50 participants via webinar, representing a variety of industries – government, trade associations, real estate, energy consultants, advocacy groups, architects, engineers, laboratories, and equipment manufacturers. EIA presented our planned changes to the 2012 CBECS questionnaire and took comments from the audience on each questionnaire section.
PowerPoint slides from the meeting.
The last steps before the questionnaire is finalized are to (1) write all the new questions according to best practices for survey design and then (2) program them into the CBECS survey instrument. The CBECS is administered by a trained interviewer using a laptop and a structured survey instrument. The questionnaire is programmed in-house by EIA using a survey processing language called Blaise.
Last call for 2012 CBECS stakeholder input
We are hard at work reviewing all the great feedback on the 2012 questionnaire that we've received to date. So far, we've heard from: the U.S. Green Building Council, ASHRAE, members of the Real Estate Roundtable (RER) such as Tishman Speyer, Simon Property Group, and Transwestern, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), EPA Energy Star, EPA Office of Water, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Consortium for Energy Efficiency, Energy Performance Measurement Institute, San Diego State University, BuildingWise, Lutron Electronics, SRG Partnership, Performance Buildings Systems, Grundfos, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing. Thank you all for taking the time to review the questionnaire.
Please join us on May 15 for an update on the revisions that we've made to the questionnaire so far and a discussion of any last potential updates:
Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2012 CBECS Stakeholder Meeting
Tuesday, May 15th, 1pm-4:30pm
U.S. Green Building Council
2101 L Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20037
Board Room
Please RSVP* to Joelle Michaels by Thursday May 10th
Agenda and slides will be distributed to all RSVPs by Friday, May 11th
*For those who are not able to participate in person we will provide webcast and call-in information
CBECS is back, and we want your input!
We have created this CBECS section to provide updates on the survey progress.
After a budget delay in 2011, CBECS will now be conducted for reference year 2012. Data collection will begin in April 2013, with the first data releases expected in Spring 2014.Our main focus now is collaborating with our stakeholders to develop the CBECS questionnaire (referred to as the "Final survey instrument" in the graphic below). Each survey cycle we make changes to keep the survey relevant, and we welcome your input. You can submit feedback to EIA in these ways:
- Responding to our Federal Register Notice
- Contacting the CBECS Survey Manager, Joelle Michaels.
We will post updates on the progress of the 2012 CBECS according to the timeline below.
CBECS funded for 2012 collection
Following the suspension of the 2011 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) given insurmountable funding constraints in FY 2011, EIA has resumed preparations to conduct the next Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). EIA plans to field the survey in April 2013, collecting data for reference year 2012. EIA expects to publish the first results of the survey in the first half of FY 2014. EIA is now working with stakeholders to develop the survey instrument. EIA will provide regular project status reports to the public throughout the course of the project.
EIA previously reported that the CBECS 2007 data do not meet EIA standards for quality, credible energy information. As a result, EIA will not publish complete data tables from CBECS 2007 or release a public use file. EIA's status reports for CBECS 2012 will report on risk mitigation strategies undertaken to assure the delivery of CBECS 2012 data.
For further information, please contact Joelle Michaels, CBECS Survey Manager, or by phone at 202-586-8952; or Tom Leckey.