EFFECTIVE TRACKING OF
BUILDING ENERGY USE
Improving the Commercial Buildings and
Residential Energy Consumption Surveys
Panel on Redesigning the Commercial Buildings and
Residential Energy Consumption Surveys of the
Energy Information Administration
William F. Eddy and Krisztina Marton, Editors
Committee on National Statistics
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
Board on Energy and Environmental Systems
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by contract number DE-DT 0000670 T.O. #30 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Energy. Support for the work of the Committee on National Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the National Science Foundation (award number SES-0453930). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2012). Effective Tracking of Building Energy Use: Improving the Commercial Buildings and Residential Energy Consumption Surveys. Panel on Redesigning the Commercial Buildings and Residential Energy Consumption Surveys of the Energy Information Administration. W.F. Eddy and K. Marton, Eds. Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, and Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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PANEL ON REDESIGNING THE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS AND RESIDENTIAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION SURVEYS OF THE ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
WILLIAM F. EDDY (Chair), Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
MARILYN A. BROWN, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology
FREDERICK CONRAD, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
DONALD A. DILLMAN, Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, Washington State University
DWIGHT K. FRENCH, Energy Consumption Division, Energy Information Administration (retired), Silver Spring, Maryland
JACK G. GAMBINO, Household Survey Methods Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa
CLARK W. GELLINGS, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California
JANE F. GENTLEMAN, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, Maryland
DAVID G. HUNGERFORD, California Energy Commission, Sacramento
PHILLIP S. KOTT,* RTI International, Rockville, Maryland
ALAN K. MEIER, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California
MICHAEL M. MEYER, ** Honeywell, Inc. (retired), Los Angeles, California
KRISZTINA MARTON, Study Director
MICHAEL L. COHEN, Senior Program Officer
NANCY J. KIRKENDALL, Senior Program Officer
AGNES GASKIN, Administrative Assistant
*Resigned from the panel on August 27, 2010.
**Joined the panel on July 1, 2010.
COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS 2010–2012
LAWRENCE D. BROWN (Chair), Department of Statistics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
JOHN M. ABOWD, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University
ALICIA CARRIQUIRY, Department of Statistics, Iowa State University
WILLIAM DuMOUCHEL, Oracle Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ
V. JOSEPH HOTZ, Department of Economics, Duke University
MICHAEL HOUT, Survey Research Center, University of California, Berkeley
KAREN KAFADAR, Department of Statistics, Indiana University
SALLIE KELLER, Science and Technology Policy Institute, Institute for Defense Analyses, Washington, DC
LISA LYNCH, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
SALLY C. MORTON, Department of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh
JOSEPH P. NEWHOUSE, Division of Health Policy Research and Education, Harvard University
RUTH PETERSON, Criminal Justice Research Center, Ohio State University
HAL S. STERN, Donald Bren School of Computer and Information Sciences, University of California, Irvine
JOHN H. THOMPSON, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago
ROGER TOURANGEAU, Westat, Rockville, MD
ALAN M. ZASLAVSKY, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard University Medical School
CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director
BOARD ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS 2010–2011
ANDREW BROWN, JR. (Chair), Delphi Corporation, Troy, Michigan
RAKESH AGRAWAL, Department of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University
WILLIAM BANHOLZER, Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan
MARILYN A. BROWN, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology
MICHAEL CORRADINI, Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin—Madison
PAUL A. DeCOTIS, Long Island Power Authority, Albany, New York
CHRISTINE EHLIG-ECONOMIDES, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University
SHERRI GOODMAN, CNA, Alexandria, Virginia
NARAIN HINGORANI, Consultant, Los Altos Hills, California
ROBERT J. HUGGETT, Department of Environmental Sciences, College of William and Mary
DEBBIE A. NIEMEIER, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis
DANIEL NOCERA, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MICHAEL OPPENHEIMER, Departments of Geosciences and International Affairs, Princeton University
DAN REICHER, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford University
BERNARD ROBERTSON, DaimlerChrysler Corporation (retired), Bloomfield, Michigan
ALISON SILVERSTEIN, Consultant, Pflugerville, Texas
MARK H. THIEMENS, Division of Physical Sciences, University of California, San Diego
RICHARD WHITE, Oppenheimer & Company, New York, New York
JAMES J. ZUCCHETTO, Director
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank everyone who contributed their time and expertise to assist the work of the Panel on Redesigning the Commercial Buildings and Residential Energy Consumption Surveys of the Energy Information Administration. These generous contributions made this report possible.
We would like to thank the sponsor of the study, the U.S. Energy Information Administration(EIA)—under the leadership of then administration Richard Newell and acting administrator Howard Gruenspecht—for the support provided as the challenges faced by the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). Communication between the panel and EIA was greatly facilitated by technical liaisons Stephanie Battles, Stephanie Brown, and later Thomas Leckey. A number of EIA staff made very informative presentations and provided useful materials that helped the panel become thoroughly familiar with the surveys. We would especially like to thank James Berry, Eugene Burns, Joelle Michales, and Eileen O’Brian for their assistance.
Lynda Carlson of the National Science Foundation (retired) and former head of the Energy End Use Division within EIA provided valuable background information about the evolution of the CBECS and RECS during the first two decades of the surveys’ existence. EIA’s data collection contractors were very helpful in getting the panel up to speed on details related to recent sample designs and data collection operations. We would like to thank Rachel Harter and Susan Hinkins from
the National Opinion Research Center and David Judkins from Westat for their presentations to the panel.
Staff from other statistical agencies also took time from their busy schedules to share their experiences with similar data collections and discuss with the panel the challenges faced by the CBECS and RECS. We thank Mark Miller from the National Agricultural Statistics Service and David Vandenbroucke from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for their input. The panel also greatly benefited from learning about the experiences of researchers who collect energy consumption data in other countries. We are indebted to Sylvie Gauthier from Statistics Canada, Shane Holt from the Australian Department of the Environment, and Shigeki Kametani from Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.
A fundamental aspect of the panel’s work was to obtain a thorough understanding of data user needs. We thank all CBECS and RECS data users who directly or indirectly provided input to the panel. This report greatly benefited from their candid contributions. We also greatly appreciated the in-person presentations delivered by Jennifer Amann from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Erin Boedecker from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Miriam Goldberg from KEMA, Piljae Im from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Elicia John from Energy Star, Richard Levy from the National Multi Housing Council, Leon Litow from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Joe Loper from ITRON, Paul Mathew from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Harvey Sachs from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Marla Sanchez from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Anant Sudarshan from Stanford University, and Michael Zatz from Energy Star.
We would also like to thank the National Research Council (NRC) staff who contributed to this study. In particular, the panel could not have done its work in such a thorough and thoughtful manner without the skills of Krisztina Marton, who served as the panel’s study director. We are also grateful for the guidance and support received from Constance Citro, director of the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT), for the input provided by CNSTAT senior program officers Michael Cohen and Nancy Kirkendall, and for the contributions to the study of James Zucchetto, director of the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems. Robert Pool provided editorial help with the report, and Kirsten Sampson Snyder shepherded the report through the review process. Administrative assistance was provided by Agnes Gaskin.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the NRC. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Paul A. DeCotis, Power Markets, Long Island Power Authority; Miriam L. Goldberg, Sustainable Use, KEMA Inc.; Andy Kohut, Manufacturing and Energy Division, Statistics Canada; Nancy L. Leach, consultant; H. Scott Matthews, Green Design Institute, Carnegie Mellon University; Stephen M. Miller, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor; Steven Nadal, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy; and Sarah Nusser, Department of Statistics, Iowa State University.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Elisabeth Drake, Energy Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (retired), and Joel Horowitz, Department of Economics, Northwestern University. Appointed by the NRC, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring panel and the institution.
Finally, we recognize the many federal agencies that support CNSTAT directly and through a grant from the National Science Foundation. Without their support and their commitment to improving the national statistical system, the committee work that is the basis of this report would not have been possible.
William F. Eddy, Chair
Panel on Redesigning the Commercial Buildings and
Residential Energy Consumption Surveys of the
Energy Information Administration
Contents
3 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey Program History and Design
4 Residential Energy Consumption Survey Program History and Design
5 Redesigning the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey
6 Redesigning the Residential Energy Consumption Survey
7 A State-of-the-Art Energy Consumption Data Collection Program