COMMERCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL BUILDING ENERGY USE SURVEY 2000 (CIBEUS) Detailed Statistical Report, December 2002
 
Boiler: A type of space-heating equipment consisting of a vessel or tank where heat produced from the combustion of such fuels as natural gas, oil or coal is used to generate hot water or steam. Many buildings have their own boilers, whereas other buildings have steam or hot water piped in from a central plant. For this survey, only boilers inside the building (or serving only that particular building) are counted as part of the building's heating system. Steam or hot water piped into a building from a central plant is considered district heat (see District heat).

Building: A structure totally enclosed by walls extending from the foundation to the roof. Only buildings containing over 93square metres (1,000 square feet) of floor space and intended for human occupancy are considered. Structures included in the survey as a specific exception are those that are erected on pillars to elevate the first fully enclosed level but leave the sides at ground level open. The following structures are excluded from the survey as non-buildings: structures that are not totally enclosed by walls and a roof (such as oil refineries, steel mills and water towers); street lights, pumps, billboards, bridges, swimming pools, oil storage tanks and construction sites; and mobile homes and trailers not attached to permanent foundations, even if they house commercial activity. Military bases and embassies are also excluded.

Building activity: Activity(ies) or function(s) occupying the majority of the floor space of a building. The categories are designed to group buildings that have similar patterns of energy consumption (see Appendix E for details).

Building characteristics: Information that covers building floor space, year of construction, number of floors and types of windows, exterior walls and roofs.

Building conservation features: Features designed to reduce energy loss or gain through the shell or envelope of a building.

Building service company (BSCO): A company that provides comprehensive mechanical, electrical and lighting services to building owners.

Calendar year: A period of 12 months starting in January and ending in December of one specific year.

Census Agglomeration (CA): As defined by Statistics Canada, a Census Agglomeration (CA) is an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core that has a population of at least 10,000.

Census Metropolitan Area (CMA): As defined by Statistics Canada, a Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is a very large urban area (known as the urban core) together with adjacent urban and rural areas (known as urban and rural fringes) that have a high degree of social and economic integration with the urban core. A CMA has an urban core population of at least 100,000, based on the previous census. After an area becomes a CMA, it is retained as a CMA even if the population of its urban core declines below 100,000. This survey is based on CMAs or Census Agglomerations (CAs) with populations of 175,000 or greater (populations of 50,000 or greater in the Atlantic provinces)(see also Census Agglomeration).

Central chiller: A type of cooling equipment that is centrally located and that produces chilled water or cool air. The chilled water or cold air is then distributed throughout the building by pipes, air ducts or both. These systems are also commonly known as chillers, centrifugal chillers, reciprocating chillers or absorption chillers.

Coal: A combustible mineral substance (carbonized vegetable matter).

Commercial building: A structure that is used, in all or in part, for activities focusing on the exchange of goods and/or services for a profit. Examples of commercial buildings are stores, office buildings, restaurants, hotels, stadiums and warehouses. Buildings in which 50 percent or more of floor space is devoted to commercial activities are considered commercial buildings for the purposes of this study.

Daylight control: Daylight controls detect natural light and turn off lighting when natural light is sufficient.

Diesel: A liquid petroleum product that is less volatile than gasoline and that is burned for space- or water-heating purposes.

District heat: Steam or hot water produced in a central plant outside of the building and piped into the building as an energy source for space heating or another end use. District heat may be purchased from a utility or provided by a central physical plant in a separate building that is part of the same multi-building facility (for example, a hospital complex or university). District heat includes district steam and/or district hot water (see also Energy source).

Electricity: Electric energy supplied to a building by a central utility via power lines or from a central physical plant in a separate building that is part of the same multi-building facility. Electric power generated within a building for exclusive use in that building is specifically excluded from the definition of electricity as an energy source in this survey (see Energy source).

Electricity gross intensity: Total consumption of electricity by a group of buildings, divided by the total floor space of those buildings that use electricity.

Energy source: A type of energy or fuel consumed in a building. In this survey, information about the use of electricity, natural gas, oil, district steam heating and district hot water in commercial buildings is obtained from the building respondent and/or the utility selling the energy source to the building respondent. Electric power generated within a building for exclusive use in that building is specifically excluded from the definition of electricity as an energy source in this survey (see Electricity).

Energy-efficient ballast: A lighting conservation feature that consists of an energy-efficient version of a conventional electromagnetic ballast. The ballast is the transformer for fluorescent and high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps and provides the necessary current, voltage and waveform conditions to operate the lamp. An energy-efficient ballast requires lower power input than a conventional ballast to operate fluorescent and HID lamps.

Enumeration Area (EA): As defined by Statistics Canada, an Enumeration Area (EA) is a geographic area canvassed by a census representative. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which census data are reported. All of Canada is covered by EAs. In some instances, EAs are physically very small, made up of large apartment buildings, large townhouse communities or other large collective dwellings.

Equipment reset: A heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) conservation feature that adjusts the temperature of supply air or water according to the building's actual heating or cooling needs. For example, in boiler systems, outdoor reset controls that have a warm-weather shut-down function will prevent overheating of a building in spring and fall by automatically shutting down the boiler and system pump whenever heat is not needed (see also HVAC conservation feature).

Evaporative cooler: A type of cooling equipment that turns air into moist, cool air by saturating it with water vapour. It does not cool air by use of a refrigeration unit. This type of equipment is commonly used in warm, dry climates.

Floor space: All the area enclosed above or below ground by the exterior walls of a building, including hallways, lobbies, stairways, penthouses and elevator shafts, but excluding indoor parking and mechanical areas.

Furnace: A type of space-heating equipment with an enclosed chamber where fuel is burned or electrical resistance is used to heat air directly without steam or hot water. The heated air is then distributed throughout a building, typically by air ducts.

Heat pumps (other than packaged units): Devices that heat the interior of a building by absorbing heat from the outside air, including ground- or water-source heat pumps. They may be stand-alone or be combined with another type of equipment. In warmer weather, they can also be used to cool a building.

Heat recovery system: A heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) conservation feature that recuperates heat from exhaust air (see also HVAC conservation feature).

Hours of operation: The time when the building is open for normal operation, not including the time when only maintenance, housekeeping or security staff may be in the building.

HVAC: Heating, ventilating and air conditioning.

HVAC conservation feature: A building feature designed to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning equipment.

Imputation: Statistical method used to allocate a value to a missing value from data obtained to minimize distortion in the estimation.

Individual room air conditioner: A type of cooling equipment installed in either walls or windows (with heat-radiating condensers exposed to the outdoor air). These self-contained units are characterized by a lack of pipes or ductwork for distributing the cool air; they cool only the air in the room or area where they are located.

Individual space heater: A type of space-heating equipment that is a free-standing or a self-contained unit and that generates and delivers heat to a local zone within the building. The heater may be permanently mounted in a wall or floor or may be portable. Examples of individual space heaters include electric baseboards, electric radiant or quartz heaters, heating panels, gas- or kerosene-fired unit heaters, wood stoves and infrared radiant heaters. These heaters are characterized by a lack of pipes or ductwork for distributing hot water, steam or warm air through a building.

Institutional building: A structure that is used, in all or in part, for activities focusing on not-for-profit services in the public's interest. Examples of institutional buildings are schools, hospitals, group foster homes, buildings used for religious worship and courthouses. Buildings in which 50percent or more of floor space is devoted to institutional activities are considered institutional buildings for the purposes of this survey.

Lighting conservation feature: A building feature or practice designed to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the lighting system.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG): Any fuel gas supplied to a building in liquid form. Propane is the most usual form, but butane, propylene, butylene and ethane are also used (see also Energy source, Natural gas and Propane).

Low-E coating: Low-E coating is a thin, invisible metallic layer, only several atoms in thickness, applied directly to glazing surfaces of windows. In a typical double-pane window, it is normally applied to the exterior face of the interior glazing. Low-E coating allows most of the sun's solar spectrum (including visible light) to pass through the window to the interior, but reflects most heat energy (from room temperature objects) back to its source. Low-E coating is a benefit in the winter because it keeps heat in, and in the summer because it keeps out heat radiated from warm objects outside.

Manual dimmer switches: A lighting conservation feature that changes the level of light in a building.

Natural gas: Hydrocarbon gas (mostly methane) supplied as an energy source to individual buildings by pipelines from a central utility company. Natural gas does not refer to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or to privately owned gas wells operated by a building owner (see also Energy source, Liquefied Petroleum Gas and Propane).

Occupancy characteristics: Information that refers to building use, the number of people working in the building, hours of operation and building ownership.

Occupancy sensors: Devices that shut off lights when rooms are not occupied.

Outdoor-air economizer: An HVAC conservation feature that uses outside air for air conditioning (see HVAC conservation feature).

Packaged air-conditioning units: Also known as self-contained or Direct Expansion (DX) units, these units contain air-conditioning equipment, as well as fans, and may or may not include heating equipment.

Packaged heating units: Also known as self-contained units, these units contain heating equipment, as well as fans, and may or may not include air-conditioning equipment.

Primary Sampling Unit (PSU): A sampling unit selected at the first stage in a multi-stage area probability sample. In the CIBEUS, a PSU typically consists of a Census Metropolitan Area (CMA).

Propane: A gaseous petroleum product that liquefies under pressure; propane is the major component of liquefied petroleum gas (see Liquefied Petroleum Gas).

Reflective shading: This is normally glass on the exterior of a building that has had a special metallic film applied to it to block and reduce harmful aspects from the sun.

Residential-type central air conditioner: A type of cooling equipment in which there are four basic parts: (1) a condensing unit, (2) a cooling coil, (3) ductwork and (4) a control mechanism, such as a thermostat. There are two basic configurations of residential central systems: (1) a "split system," in which the condensing unit is located outside and the other components are inside and (2) a packaged-terminal air-conditioning (PTAC) unit that both heats and cools, or only cools. This system contains all four components encased in one unit and is usually found in a "utility closet." PTACs are considered packaged air-conditioning units (see Packaged air-conditioning units).

R-value: This value represents the thermal resistance of an insulator. It is an indicator of how much insulating capacity there is in preventing heat flow between the exterior and interior of the building. The overall R-value accounts for all exposed wall construction, including framing effects and air layers.

Sealed glazing: A special seal that is applied to the perimeter of a window to improve energy efficiency.

Shading film: A special layer of plastic film that helps to reduce the amount of sunlight in a building.

Space cooling: As an energy end-use, the conditioning of air in a room for human comfort by a refrigeration unit (such as an air conditioner or heat pump) or by a central cooling or district cooling system that circulates chilled water. Excluded is the use of fans or blowers by themselves, without chilled air or water.

Space heating: As an energy end-use, the use of mechanical equipment (including wood stoves and active solar-heating devices) to heat all, or part, of a building to at least 10¡ãC.

Specular reflectors: A lighting conservation feature that is the mirror-like backing of a fluorescent lighting fixture designed specifically to reflect light into a room. The materials and shape of the reflector are designed to reduce absorption of the light within the fixture, while delivering light in a desired angular pattern. The most common materials used are silver (highest reflectivity) and aluminum (lowest cost).

Structure: A structure must pass questions A2 (a to f) (see Appendix F) to be considered in the scope of this survey. The structure may or may not be a building as the survey defines it (see Building).

Swamp cooler: (see Evaporative cooler).

Temperature setback: A heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) conservation feature that has automatic controls that turn heating up and down at predetermined times (see HVAC conservation feature).

Time clocks: A lighting conservation feature that has automatic controls that turn lights off and on at predetermined times.

Urban area: As defined by the census, an urban area is one that has a minimum population of 1,000 people and a population density of at least 400 people per square kilometre. Any area that does not meet this requirement is deemed to be a rural area.

Variable Air-Volume (VAV) system: A heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) conservation feature that supplies varying quantities of conditioned (heated or cooled) air to different parts of a building according to the heating and cooling needs of those specific areas (see HVAC conservation feature).

Water heating: As energy end-use, the use of energy to heat water for purposes other than space heating.

Year of construction: The year in which the major part or the largest portion of a building was constructed.