The federal power marketing authority in the Pacific Northwest has monitored end-use electrical consumption and its determinants at hundreds of commercial and residential sites for the End-Use Load and Consumer Assessment Programme (ELCAP). These data have been applied to characterise patterns of end-use energy consumption, improve load forecasts, investigate conservation opportunities, and address a variety of special topics. A regionwide survey of commercial building characteristics was recently completed to place the measurements in a regional context and support other data applications. Briefly describes the data collected and some of the past and present applications. Over the last several years ASHRAE Special Committee 56 has been conducting an assessment of the energy audit process. One finding of its work is the need for guidelines for the collection and dissemination of building characteristics and energy consumption data. The focus is on the efforts necessary to facilitate application of these and other similar data by ASHRAE members. These efforts include summarisation and manipulation of the data, data definition and quality control, and data access and applicability issues. While institutional issues need to be addressed, focuses on the technical aspects of reliable and efficient data exchange and application.

KEYWORDS: buildings, properties, energy consumption, commercial, USA, electricity consumption, monitoring, surveys, measuring, data coordination, regulations, information retrieval, databases, calculating, forecasting, costs, economics, energy conservation