Energy use for building construction. Progress report, March 1, 1976--August 1, 1976. [Energy demand in US building industry in 1967

Abstract

Total (direct and indirect) energy requirements of the construction industry for 1967 were determined in order to examine the potential for energy savings. The Energy Input/Output Model developed at the Center for Advanced Computation, University of Illinois, was expanded to include a detailed breakdown of the industry and energy intensities of 49 building construction (new and maintenance) sectors and of the overall building construction industry were determined for 1967. The latter figure was computed at about 70,000 Btu/$, i.e., the construction industry on the average required about 70,000 Btu of direct and indirect energy per dollar of output produced. In addition, total energy requirements to final demand were developed for the construction industry for 1967. The overall industry required about 6000 trillion Btu, or about nine percent of the total U.S. energy requirement. Energy requirements were further broken down according to goods and services purchased by individual construction sectors, and energy distribution patterns were determined. Energy cost per unit for several input materials to construction were calculated, as well as energy cost per square foot for various building sectors in 1967. Laboratories and hospitals required the most energy per square foot (2,073,755 Btu/ft/sup 2/ and 1,722,172 Btu/ft/sup 2/, respectively), while warehouses required the least (558,403 Btu/ft/sup 2/). Finally, a prototypical study was conducted to determine industries in which direct energy use led to a significant amount of energy embodied in new construction for 1967. The resulting energy flow chart is included.