Energy Use in the Commercial/Institutional Sector
The Office of Energy Efficiency at Natural Resources Canada has changed the base year from 1990 to 2000. This change was made to ensure that our data reflects developments in trends and structures of Canada’s energy end use and efficiency across sectors. It also synchronizes reporting on Canada’s energy use data with changes recently made by the International Energy Agency.
Highlights
- Energy efficiency in the commercial/institutional sector improved by almost 13%, saving Canadians 124.2 PJ and $3.2 billion in costs in 2019.
- Commercial/Institutional energy use increased by almost 22%Footnote 1 but it would have increased by 34% without energy efficiency improvements.
- Energy efficiency helped avoid 5.2 Mt in GHG emissions.
Overview – Energy use and GHG emissions
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Key drivers for commercial/institutional energy consumption
| 2000 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| Floor space (million m2) | 601.1 | 758.3 |
| Auxiliary Equipment (PJ) increased | 87.3 | 196.1 |
| Employees (thousands) increased | 10,207 | 14,050 |
| GDP (million $2012 constant dollars) increased | 823,297 | 1,323,236 |
Major activities in commercial/institutional buildings include trade, finance, real estate, public administration, education, and commercial services. These activities are grouped into 10 subsectors.
In 2019, commercial businesses and institutions spent $31.2 billion on energy to provide services to Canadians. Offices, retail trade and educational services accounted for about 70% of total Canadian commercial/institutional floor space in 2019.
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Distribution of commercial/institutional energy use by end use, 2019
| Commercial/institutional energy use | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Space heating | 54 |
| Auxiliary equipment | 16 |
| Lighting | 15 |
| Water heating | 6 |
| Auxiliary motors | 4 |
| Space cooling | 5 |
| Street lighting | 1 |
Energy is used for various purposes, such as space heating, space cooling, lighting, water heating, and for operating auxiliary equipment (e.g. computers and medical equipment) and auxiliary motors (e.g. backup power systems). Space heating accounted for the largest share of energy use (54%), followed by auxiliary equipment at (16%), and then lighting (15%).
Energy efficiency
Without energy efficiency gains, energy use would have increased 34% instead of 22%.
Energy efficiency is measured using the factorization method. This method separates the total change into five effects (factors) influencing the sector’s energy consumption, as illustrated below. Energy efficiency improvement corresponds to the difference between the total change in commercial/institutional energy use and the impacts of activity, structure, weather, and service level effects.
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Impact of activity, structure, service level, weather and energy efficiency on the change in commercial/institutional energy use, 2000–2019
| Petajoules | |
|---|---|
| Total change in energy use | 213.3 |
| Activity effect | 234.3 |
| Structure effect | 12.2 |
| Weather effect | 23.1 |
| Service level effectFootnote * | 68.2 |
| Energy efficiency effect | -124.2 |
| OtherFootnote ** | -0.4 |
- Activity effect – A 26% increase in floor space resulted in an increase of 234.3 PJ in energy and 9.9 Mt in GHG emissions.
- Structure effect – reflects the changes in floor space proportion of the activity types. A slight increase in the proportion of floor space in buildings with more intensive activities such as health services, accommodation services and, to a lesser extent, office and educational buildings, was observed in 2019. Conversely, the floor space proportion decreased for warehouses and wholesale trade activities, which are less energy intensive. These changes resulted in an increase of 12.2 PJ in energy and 0.5 Mt in GHG emissions.
- Weather effect – In 2019, the winter was slightly colder than in 2000 and the summer was warmer in 2019 than in 2000. The net result was an increase of 23.1 PJ in energy and 1.0 Mt in GHG emissions.
- Service level effect – An increase of auxiliary equipment (e.g. computers, fax machines and photocopiers) resulted in an increase of 68.2 PJ in energy use and 2.9 Mt in GHG emissions.
- Energy efficiency effect – The 13% improvement in energy efficiency saved 124.2 PJ in energy, $3.2 billion in costs and avoided 5.2 Mt of GHG emissions.
Commercial/institutional energy use, with and without energy efficiency improvements, from 2000–2019 (petajoules)
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Commercial/institutional energy use, with and without energy efficiency improvements, from 2000–2019 (petajoules)
| Energy use with energy efficiency improvements | Energy use without energy efficiency improvements | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 983 | 983 |
| 2001 | 976 | 982 |
| 2002 | 1,037 | 1,042 |
| 2003 | 1,069 | 1,062 |
| 2004 | 1,048 | 1,062 |
| 2005 | 1,019 | 1,098 |
| 2006 | 963 | 1,082 |
| 2007 | 999 | 1,137 |
| 2008 | 1,018 | 1,158 |
| 2009 | 1,016 | 1,180 |
| 2010 | 994 | 1,175 |
| 2011 | 1,039 | 1,199 |
| 2012 | 998 | 1,198 |
| 2013 | 1,033 | 1,235 |
| 2014 | 1,087 | 1,266 |
| 2015 | 1,066 | 1,255 |
| 2016 | 1,063 | 1,256 |
| 2017 | 1,145 | 1,273 |
| 2018 | 1,174 | 1,313 |
| 2019 | 1,197 | 1,321 |
Energy use
From 2000 to 2019, the sector’s contribution to GDP grew nearly 61%, and floor space grew 26%. At the same time, its energy use increased only 22% from 990.3 to 1,203.6 PJ (including street lighting). The associated GHG emissions, including electricity-related emissions, increased only about 8%.
In 2019, natural gas and electricity were the main energy sources used in this sector, accounting for 50% and 45% of total energy use, respectively. Electricity was the primary energy source for lighting, space cooling, and auxiliary motors and equipment. Natural gas was the primary energy source for space and water heating. Natural gas and propane were also used in small proportions to provide energy for auxiliary equipment, such as the propane for stoves and natural gas for space cooling services.
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Commercial/institutional energy use by fuel type and floor space, 2000 and 2019 (petajoules)
| 2000 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity | 376.43 | 540.10 |
| Natural gas | 504.09 | 599.82 |
| Light fuel oil and kerosene | 55.66 | 24.49 |
| Heavy fuel oil | 17.95 | 0.57 |
| Steam | 0.31 | 0.29 |
| OtherFootnote * | 35.86 | 38.31 |
| Floor space (millions m2) | 601.1 | 758.3 |
Space heating continued to be the primary end use in the sector. However, auxiliary equipment experienced the largest increase in energy use (125%) and was responsible for about 60% of the sector’s aggregate change in energy use between 2000 and 2019, driven in part from the increasing computerization of all workspaces. Lighting energy consumption increased 32% and was responsible for 20% in the total change. Space heating energy consumption increased 9% but was responsible for 25% of the total change.
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Commercial/institutional energy use by end use, 2000 and 2019 (petajoules)
| 2000 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| Space heating | 603.1 | 655.6 |
| Lighting | 134.4 | 177.9 |
| Auxiliary equipment | 87.3 | 196.1 |
| Water heating | 58.5 | 69.1 |
| Auxiliary motors | 54.6 | 44.0 |
| Space cooling | 45.5 | 54.4 |
| Street lighting | 6.9 | 6.5 |
Offices accounted for the largest share of energy use in 2019 (35%). This subsector includes public administration and activities related to finance and insurance; real estate and rental and leasing; professional, scientific, and technical services; and other offices. Retail trade (15%); health care and social assistance services (14%); and educational services (13%) were the next largest users. Combined, these activities accounted for more than three quarter of the sector’s total energy use.
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Commercial/institutional energy use by activity type, 2000 and 2019 (petajoules)
| 2000 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| Office | 329.6 | 420.2 |
| Retail trade | 160.8 | 184.8 |
| Educational services | 127.1 | 158.8 |
| Health care and social assistance | 117.3 | 163.7 |
| Accommodation and food services | 70.7 | 92.5 |
| Wholesale trade | 62.5 | 62.9 |
| Transportation and warehousing | 49.1 | 43.6 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 25.1 | 28.6 |
| Information and cultural industries | 21.2 | 24.4 |
| Other services | 20.0 | 17.6 |
Several factors contributed to the growth in energy use in the commercial/institutional sector, including increasing floor space, GDP and the number of employees.
Energy efficiency gains were achieved in terms of overall energy use per floor space. This was offset by an increase in energy requirements for auxiliary equipment. There was not only an overall increase in computerization of the work environment during this period, but also an increase in the actual number of devices required per employee.
Energy intensity
The sector experienced a 4% decrease in energy intensity in terms of energy consumed per unit of floor space (GJ/m2). The most energy-intensive activity types were health care and social assistance; and accommodation and food services with 2.61 and 2.29 GJ/m2 respectively. This can be attributed to the energy-demanding nature of their activities (restaurants, laundry) and services (extensive hours of operation), as well as the use of new technologies, which translates into an increasing amount of electronic equipment.
Besides, energy use decreased 24% when measured against economic activity (PJ/$GDP).