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Research on office energy use (now with full report)

I have updated my research on energy use and carbon emissions from offices with data from the 'Corporate Social Responsibility' reports of large British companies. A summary of my analysis can be downloaded from the top of this page.

I don't think that this work has been done before and the data took a great deal of time to assemble. Please feel free to use it, but I'd be grateful if you would acknowledge Chris Goodall on www.lowcarbonlife.net as the source. The full report will be available shortly.(This was added on 15th June 2007. The data in this report was collected in January and February of this year.)

The research suggests that office-based companies have energy use per employee of around 6-6,500 kWh per employee. Shop-based employees use significantly more energy. The crucial implication of these findings are that most companies are responsible for carbon dioxide emissions of substantially more than 2 tonnes per employee, merely from operating offices. I hope the research also shows that the financial costs to service-industry employers of the energy used are small, and increases in price are not going to affect demand to any great extent.