How much energy do buildings use?

In most commercial office buildings, energy is a relatively small proportion of the total cost of occupancy, typically less than 10%, compared to rates, rent and landlord service charges. Considering other costs, such as salaries, the cost of energy to most office-based businesses is hardly noticeable. It is perhaps, therefore, not surprising that occupants have limited understanding of how their building is performing – what the equivalent fuel economy is. The intentions of legislators are clear – all new buildings will need to be very energy efficient and meet some of their energy needs through on-site renewables. The heating, cooling, domestic hot water and toilet exhaust fans had a total submetered electricity consumption of just 6 kWh/m² despite none of them being energy efficient. The landlord’s lights and lift accounted for 20% of the total energy because the lights were left on 24/7.