7-B-i

APPENDIX 7-B. CBECS 2003 VARIABLES AND VALUES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

7-B.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 7-B-1

7-B.2 SAMPLE DETERMINATION .............................................................................. 7-B-1

7-B.2.1 Room Air Conditioners ........................................................................ 7-B-1

7-B.3 CBECS 2003 DATABASE VARIABLE RESPONSE CODES ........................... 7-B-3

LIST OF TABLES

Table 7-B.2.1 Selection of CBECS 2003 Records for Room Air Conditioners ............... 7-B-2

Table 7-B.2.2 CBECS 2003 Variables Used for Room Air Conditioners ........................ 7-B-3

Table 7-B.3.1 CBECS 2003 Variable Response Codes .................................................... 7-B-4
7-B-1

APPENDIX 7-B. CBECS 2003 VARIABLES AND VALUES

7-B.1 INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created a database containing a subset of the 

records and variables from DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA)’s CBECS 2003.1

DOE used this CBECS subset in the life-cycle cost (LCC) analysis of the Room Air Conditioners 

(RAC) and Clothes Dryers Rulemaking. This appendix explains the variable name abbreviations 

and provides definitions of the variable values. For the entire CBECS 2003 dataset, refer to 

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs/cbecs2003/public_use_2003/cbecs_pudata2003.html. 

7-B.2 SAMPLE DETERMINATION

7-B.2.1 Room Air Conditioners

 The subset of CBECS records used for room air conditioners met all of the following 

criteria: 

 

1) A room air conditioner served as a source of air conditioning.a

2) Building is not vacant, 

 

3) A room air conditioner is used as the primary equipment to cool at least a portion of the 

building.b

The CBECS 2003 variables used to match the selection criteria are listed in Table 7-

B.2.1. Buildings were assigned to the sub-samples based on the amount of cooling area per room 

air conditioner, with similar reasoning as for residential room air conditioners (see appendix 7-

A). CBECS 2003 provides for the total cooling square footage and the fraction of cooling by the 

room air conditioner for each building record, but it does not provide the number of room air 

conditioners used by the building, so all of the total room air conditioner cooling square footage 

is used to determine the subsamples. 

 

a Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner (PTAC) systems could also be listed as room air conditioners, therefore DOE 

tried to select buildings with only room air conditioners by selecting buildings that did not have a PTAC type 

heating system.

b Sum of the fraction of all other cooling equipment is less than 100 percent.
7-B-2

Table 7-B.2.1 Selection of CBECS 2003 Records for Room Air Conditioners

Product Class Algorithm # of Records

# of Commercial 

Buildings Represented 

(million)

Total sample 440 0.4 

>6000 Btu/h Total RAC Cooling sq. ft. > 0 

(Cooling sq. ft. per unit < 300) 

440 0.4 

8,000 to 13,999 

Btu /h

Total RAC Cooling sq. ft. > 300 

(Cooling sq. ft. per unit between 

300 and 900)

400 0.3 

≥ 20,000 Btu /h Total RAC Cooling sq. ft. > 900 

(Cooling sq. ft. per unit > 900)

352 0.3 
7-B-3

 

Table 7-B.2.2 CBECS 2003 Variables Used for Room Air Conditioners 

Variable Description

Location Variables

CENDIV8 Census division

HDD658 Heating degree days (base 65)

CDD658 Cooling degree days (base 65)

Household Characteristics Variables 

PUBID8 CBECS building identifier

ADJWT8 Final full sample building weight

SQFT8 Building square footage 

MAINCL8 Main building cooling equipment 

COOLP8 Percent of building cooled

ACWNWP8 Percent of building cooled by individual room air conditioner(s) 

OPEN248 Building open 24 hours a day 

OPNMF8 Building open during week 

OPNWE8 Building open on weekend 

WKHRS8 Building total weekly operating hours 

AdjRACpct* Determined using CBECS variables as follows: 

[COOLP8] * [ACWNWP8]

CLIMATE8 Climate zone (30-year average)

ELCNS8 Annual electricity consumption (kWh)

ELEXP8 Annual electricity expenditures ($)

* Not part of CBECS 2003 variables.

7-B.3 CBECS 2003 DATABASE VARIABLE RESPONSE CODES

Table 7-B.3.1 provides the response codes for all CBECS 2003 variables used in the 

Room Air Conditioner and Clothes Dryer samples.
7-B-4

Table 7-B.3.1 CBECS 2003 Variable Response Codes

Variable Definition

ACWNWP8 Percent of building cooled by individual room air conditioner(s)

AdjRACpct*

Determined using CBECS variables as follows: 

[COOLP8] * [ACWNWP8]

ADJWT8 Final full sample building weight

CDD658 Cooling degree days (base 65)

CENDIV8 Census division

 1 = New England 

2 = Middle Atlantic

 3 = East North Central 

4 = West North Central

 5 = South Atlantic 

 6 = East South Central 

 7 = West South Central 

 8 = Mountain 

9 = Pacific

CLIMATE8 Climate zone (30-year average)

 1 = < 2,000 CDD, > 7,000 HDD 

 2 = < 2,000 CDD, 5,500-7,000 HDD 

 3 = < 2,000 CDD, 4,000-5,499 HDD 

 4 = < 2,000 CDD, < 4,000 HDD 

 5 = ≥ 2,000 CDD, < 4,000 HDD

7 = Withheld to protect confidentiality

COOLP8 Percent of building cooled

ELCNS8 Annual electricity consumption (kWh)

ELEXP8 Annual electricity expenditures ($)

HDD658 Heating degree days (base 65)

MAINCL8 Main building cooling equipment

1 = Packaged A/C units

2 = Residential-type central A/C

 3 = Individual room A/C 

 4 = Heat pumps for cooling 

5 = District chilled water piped in

 6 = Central chillers inside the building 

7 = “Swamp” coolers or evaporative coolers 

8 = Other cooling equipment

OPEN248 Building open 24 hours a day

1 = Yes

2 = No

7 = Not ascertained

8 = Refused

9 = Don’t know
7-B-5

OPNMF8 Building open during week

1 = Yes

2 = No

7 = Not ascertained

8 = Refused

9 = Don’t know

OPNWE8 Building open on weekend

1 = Yes

2 = No

7 = Not ascertained

8 = Refused

 9 = Don’t know 

PUBID8 CBECS building identifier

SQFT8 Building square footage

WKHRS8 Building total weekly operating hours

* Not part of CBECS 2003 variables.
7-B-6

REFERENCES

1. U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Information Administration, Commercial Buildings 

Energy Consumption Survey, 2003. <http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs/>