Describes how a 10-storey commercial office building in Fort Worth, Texas, was used as a prototype to investigate the environmental impact when applying various electric and gas technologies to provide ventilation and comfort conditioning. The instantaneous (hourly) electrical and gas requirements of the building were traced back to their source, the point where fuel is extracted from the ground. The total energy consumed and emissions produced are quantified for both electric and gas technologies. Supplies the findings. Concludes that the gas cooling technologies required 20% to 30% more energy to be extracted from the earth to provide the equivalent space conditioning for the prototypical office building when compared to the worst and best case electric technologies respectively, but scored lower on most emissions.

KEYWORDS: year 1995, ) Offices, multistorey buildings, USA, environment, electricity, gas, natural gas, comparing, energy consumption, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ventilation, thermal comfort, outdoor, air pollution, nitrogen oxide