The Commercial Building & Where Energy Goes2 / 17
Where the Energy Goes in an Office Building
HVAC, lighting, small power and the base load that never switches off: the load profile of a multi-let office, and what drives each slice.
10 min read · Jacob Willis, Net Zero Lead · Last reviewed July 2026
An office building has no product to make, no wort to boil, no cold store to hold at temperature. Its entire energy bill exists to keep people comfortable and equipment running for roughly 65 hours a week, which makes the other 103 hours the most revealing part of its load profile. This lesson breaks an air-conditioned office's consumption into its major slices, shows what drives each one, and introduces the single number this course will use again and again: the overnight base load.