Simulating Low-cost Rotating Panel Designs for the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA's) Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is the primary source of data on energy use in the U.S. commercial sector. The survey collects detailed information about commercial building characteristics, energy consuming equipment, and fuel use in commercial buildings. EIA has collected 11 cycles of CBECS data since 1979. Because CBECS data collection is complicated and increasingly expensive, EIA is researching options to potentially reduce costs for future CBECS cycles. Winkler et al, (2022) examined rotating panel designs recommended for CBECS by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS 2012). In this study, we consider low-cost panel designs involving fewer panels and smaller samples within the panels. Simulation results suggest that a longitudinal CBECS, involving dependent interviewing (Ridolfo et al. 2022), may provide useful time-series data despite increased standard errors.