2020– Commercial Building Energy Consumption Customer Satisfaction Survey

OMB Control Number: 1905-0210

Expiration Date: 8/31/2022

CBECS Customer Satisfaction Survey

Question 1. How familiar are you with the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)?

1. Not familiar, this is my first time visiting the website. (Continue with question 4)

2. Somewhat familiar, I have looked at CBECS tables or reports or Today in Energy (TIE) articles that reference CBECS. –> (Follow up questions 2 and 3)

3. Familiar, I regularly look up information in the CBECS tables or conduct analysis using the microdata. -> (Follow up questions 2 and 3)

4. Very familiar, I use CBECS data to perform my own research for academic or business purposes. -> (Follow up questions 2 and 3)

(Follow-up) Question 2. What is the primary way that you use CBECS information?

1. Set energy use targets for benchmarking

2. Design policies and programs

3. Inform business decisions

4. Forecast energy consumption

5. Conduct academic research

6. Other (Please specify—answer is open-ended.)

(Follow-up) Question 3. What information do you use from CBECS?

(Please select all that apply.)

1. Data tables-> (follow-up question)

   1. Which data tables have you used? (Please select all that apply.)

      1. Building characteristics

      2. Energy consumption totals

      3. Consumption averages (in other words, energy intensities)

      4. Expenditures

      5. End-use consumption (for example, heating, cooling, lighting)

2. Microdata -> (3 follow-up questions)

   1. Which of the following microdata file documentation have you used? (Please select all that apply.)

      1. User’s Guide to the Public Use File, including example code

      2. Variable and response codebook

      3. Survey questionnaire

      4. None of the above

   2. Is there any additional information or documentation about the microdata that you would find helpful? (open-ended)

   3. What software do you use to analyze the CBECS data? (Please select all that apply.)

1. SAS

2. Excel

3. SPSS

4. STATA

5. R

6. Python

7. MATLAB

8. Other (Please specify)

3. Special analysis reports

4. Today in Energy articles

5. Survey background and technical information

6. Other (Please specify—answer is open-ended.)

Question 4. What section of CBECS data most interests you? (Please select all that apply.)

1. Geographic area (census region or division)

2. Climate zone  

3. Building activity (for example, schools, retail, office buildings, etc.) 

4. Size of the building

   1. Follow-up --> What building sizes interest you? (open-ended)

5. Age of the building 

6. Building stock as a whole

7. Other (please specify)

Question 5. CBECS currently provides a nationally representative dataset with microdata and tables released every four to six years for a single reference year, EIA is considering some changes to the current survey design. Which of the following changes to the survey design would be most useful to you?

1. Collect data more often (for example, every other year or every year)

2. Release data quicker (for example, within a year of data collection)

3. Publish data at smaller levels of geography (states, cities, etc.)

4. Collect data for the same sampled buildings across multiple time periods or survey waves

5. Other (please specify)

6. I do not want the CBECS design to change

Question 6. Do you use sources other than CBECS for building characteristics and energy consumption data?

1. Yes > (follow-up question)

   1. Which of the following data sources do you use? (Please select all that apply.)

1. Other EIA products, such as the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) or Monthly Energy Review (MER)

2. Other U.S. Department of Energy products, such as the Building Performance Database

3. Other federal commercial building information, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager

4. Other sources of commercial building information (please specify)

1. No

Question 7. Which category best describes you or your organization?

1. Research/Academia

2. Student

3. Media

4. Government

   1. Federal

      1. DOE/national Labs

      2. Other (please specify)

   2. State

   3. Local

   4. Foreign

   5. Other (please specify)

5. Non-governmental organization

   1. Consumer

   2. Energy

   3. Environmental

   4. Other (please specify)

6. Consulting

1. Research

2. Government

3. Non-governmental organization

4. Electricity or natural gas utilities

5. Buildings, equipment, and services

6. Other (please specify)

7. Energy industry

   1. Electric utility

   2. Natural gas utility

   3. Other (please specify)

8. Buildings industry

   1. Architect/engineer

   2. Facilities management/sustainability

   3. Other (please specify)

9. Other industry

   1. Equipment and systems

   2. Financial

   3. Software/IT

   4. Other (please specify)

10. Private Citizen

11. Other (please specify)

Question 8. Is there any other feedback you would like to share with us about CBECS?

~~~Answer is open-ended~~~