Effective Tracking of Building Energy Use Improving the Commercial Buildings and Residential Energy Consumption Surveys (2012) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix F: Letter Report
Appendix F: Letter Report
Pages 107-122
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From page 107... ...
With the possibility of additional funding available in the next few years, EIA asked the National Research Council to conduct a comprehensive review to assess how the CBECS and RECS can take advantage of recent developments in survey methods and to ensure the relevance of the data for meeting increased user needs in the next decade and beyond. The panel's charge is to consider possible improvements to data quality, geographic coverage, relevance, and the timeliness of data releases.
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From page 108... ...
BACKGROUND ON THE CBECS The CBECS is a survey of commercial buildings in the United States, mandated by Congress to provide comprehensive information about energy use in commercial buildings. In addition to energy consumption and expenditure data, the survey collects information about building characteristics, such as energy source, physical structure, equipment used, and activities performed, which provides researchers with detailed information about commercial sector energy use and how it relates to building characteristics.
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From page 109... ...
During the second stage of the data collection, the energy suppliers of buildings that were not able to provide adequate information in the first stage are contacted to obtain actual usage and expenditure data from the supplier's records. SAMPLING FRAME There is little comprehensive information about the stock of commercial buildings in the United States, and EIA indicated that the lack of a comprehensive national list of commercial buildings or another suitable source from which to select a sample of buildings to interview is one of the major challenges for the CBECS data collection.
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From page 110... ...
As an example of such a supplemental source, we recommend exploring the usefulness of local government databases that are available online, such as county property tax databases, some of which include information on square footage and heat source. Two available online databases of which we are aware are those of the Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments in Pennsylvania and of the King County Government in Washington.
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From page 111... ...
. SUPPLEMENTARY DATA SOURCES In addition to considering existing administrative records as an alternative source for a sampling frame, the panel recommends evaluating these records as potential sources for substantive data that could possibly replace an on-site interview at the building's location or could provide additional data for modeling or to conduct new analyses.
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From page 112... ...
The overlap will be particularly important with the building audits, as discussed below. Building Audits We understand that EIA has considered involving professional energy auditors to collect building data instead of relying on interviewers, but there has never been sufficient funding to implement this approach (except in
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From page 113... ...
If this research is scheduled before the beginning of the data collection, the insights gained could be useful in fine-tuning the data collection instruments and sample design for the 2011 CBECS, but this type of research could be carried out at any time. Once the 2011 CBECS data are available, examining the consistency between the information available from a variety of Internet sources and the data collected through the current methods, as well as from building audits, will provide valuable information about data quality.
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From page 114... ...
To evaluate the quality of the data obtained from the building interviews, as well as the regression model used to identify out of range responses, the next round of the CBECS should include an energy supplier follow-up for more than just the problem cases currently included. For example, the 2011 CBECS could collect supplier data for a random sample of cases that provided usage and consumption data that were deemed valid during the building interview.
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From page 115... ...
EIA's definition of a building does not always correspond to a respondent's definition of a building, and it is often left up to the interviewer to clarify the definition and come to an understanding with the respondent about what is meant by a building for the purposes of the interview. In addition, EIA staff indicated to the panel that the buildings of interest tend to use a wide range of specialized equipment related to building activity, and respondents' abilities to describe the equipment vary.
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From page 116... ...
Even if the information available from the various data sources is limited in scope, the recommended research can provide valuable feedback about the quality of the self-reported building data and identify options for integrating a variety of data sources in the future. DATA COLLECTION Process The panel understands that EIA staff participate in all interviewer training, but even more active involvement may be necessary to share the study's goals and communicate how the quality of the data determines their usefulness.
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From page 117... ...
Additional activities for which analyzing existing data could identify opportunities for increased efficiency include the handling of partial interviews, both in terms of the field operations and from the perspective of data editing. Given that the CBECS interview is relatively long (with an estimate of 30 to 45 minutes provided to respondents)
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From page 118... ...
It may also be necessary to treat large buildings differently from smaller ones. The review of the case histories and the interviewer debriefings described above will be helpful in beginning to identify the building types for which data collection is fairly straightforward.
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From page 119... ...
Sometimes information on how to access a web survey is included in a hard-copy advance letter mailed to respondents, even though this is less ideal than an e-mail invitation because it requires respondents to manually enter the web address of the survey and the login information. Since contacting respondents by mail may be the only option if an e mail address cannot be obtained, investigating the extent to which building addresses and the mail delivery addresses overlap (as recommended above)
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From page 120... ...
The additional funding available for the 2011 CBECS represents an opportunity to test various ways of asking questions that EIA has identified as problematic because of their technical nature. For example, different approaches to obtaining the square footage information from respondents can be tested in the form of a split-sample experiment.
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From page 121... ...
SUMMARY The 2011 CBECS presents an opportunity to conduct research that can guide the redesign of the survey on the basis of empirical data about the most cost effective approach for collecting valid and reliable information about the energy consumption of commercial buildings. This letter report of the panel outlines a variety of research topics that seem most promising to pursue before or as part of the 2011 CBECS data collection.
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From page 122... ...
developing a strategy for transitioning some of the interviews to a web-based data collection mode. This research will inform a possible future redesign of the sampling methodology and revisions to the data collection procedures that could be considered for subsequent rounds of the CBECS.
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