NREL Researchers Reveal How Buildings Across United States Do – & Could – Use Energy

Buildings are responsible for 40% of total energy use in the United States, including 75% of all electricity use and 35% of the nation’s carbon emissions. Although today’s decarbonization efforts often focus on renewable electricity or electric vehicles, decarbonizing the building stock is also essential.

To facilitate decarbonization of the U.S. building stock, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have created a new, meticulously researched data set that details how buildings do — and could — use energy. This data set, called the End-Use Load Profiles, reveals the massive climate impacts that improvements to the U.S. building stock could have.

“Before this data set existed and was public, the options available for…