When we survey your buildings, we gather lots of information and record it into a database. The information is anonymous, keyed in by codes that only we understand.
Among other information, the database contains the following about the most common type of building – one used for worship, with classrooms often used for child care, a fellowship hall and offices:Number of buildings in this category to date – 334
- Average floor area of heated space – 20,750 square feet
- Average number of kilowatthours of electricity – 2.88 per square foot per year
- Average annual units of fuel per square foot – 0.563 CCF of natural gas or 0.38 gallons of #2 fuel oil
- Hours use of demand (a rough indication of building use) – 145 hours per month, or 36 hours per week
- Maximum annual watts of electric demand per square foot – 1.71
- Fuel input to the heating system, divided by the square feet of heated space – 73 Btus/Square Foot
- Average natural gas used for cooking food and heating domestic hot water – 0.04 CCF per square foot per year
This is for one building type. Other categories in our database include all-electric houses of worship, synagogues, churches used for worship only, retreat centers, office buildings, mobile classrooms, elementary schools, convents, rectories and single-family homes.
Here are charts of electric and total energy use per square foot per year for hundreds of worship/education buildings:
To read the Original 2 page publication in PDF Format, click on the link below:
religious_buildings_use_energy.pdf
(Opens in a new window, file size 73 KB)