Energy Use in Institutional Buildings: Estimates From State Energy-Audit Surveys

This article examines the determinants of energy demand for nearly 9,000 institutional buildings in the United States. The data were collected, as part of the federal Institutional Conservation Program, by state energy offices using mail surveys. The article presents energy demand estimates adjusted for differences in state surveys as well as for nonresponse bias, as functions of energy prices, building characteristics, and fuel-type variables for approximations of the installed heating ventilation and air-conditioning equipment. Energy price elasticities are found to vary from ?.28 for schools to ?1.05 for hospitals.