A preliminary model of non-domestic energy use for England and Wales

A non-domestic stock energy model is one of the major deliverables of the project Carbon Reduction in Buildings (CaRB). This paper describes an interim but detailed activity based model of energy use in non-domestic premises in England and Wales for the year 2004. Floorspace data from the Valuation Office Agency and numerous other sources were combined to produce a floorspace model. Energy data summarised from a database of detailed energy surveys in some 740 non-domestic premises generated area based specific energy uses. These were combined with the floorspace model to produce a breakdown of total energy use for England and Wales subdivided into heating, lighting, cooling, computers, hot water and other uses. Much of the model development has focused on developing techniques for dealing with the heterogeneity of the nondomestic stock. Classification is central to this task and the paper describes the system used, the model structure, and plans to incorporate refinements such as the complex relationship between buildings and premises. Though preliminary, the current model does appear to give a broadly accurate overview of the stock and its energy use. It has been tested against corresponding data from the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) and compares well for the public administration and commercial sectors. © 2006 RICS, The Bartlett School, UCL and the contributors First published.