Commercial equipment spans heating and cooling systems, refrigeration, lighting, elevators, computers, water heating, and other assets used across business properties. The latest national sources show two complementary pictures: U.S. nonfarm companies spent an estimated $1,176.9 billion on new and used equipment in 2022, while the latest completed national commercial-building survey describes equipment presence and energy use in 2018.
Contents
- Commercial equipment investment
- The commercial-building footprint
- Heating, cooling, and controls
- Refrigeration, lighting, and computing
- Energy use by equipment-related end use
- Replacement and operating decisions
Commercial equipment investment
The Annual Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES) measures capital spending by U.S. nonfarm companies. It covers structures and equipment together, so its totals are broader than a narrowly defined commercial-equipment product market. In 2022, nonfarm companies invested an estimated $2,197.0 billion in new and used structures and equipment. Employer businesses accounted for $1,899.9 billion, or 86.5%, of that spending. (Annual Capital Expenditures: 2022)
Within employer businesses, new structures and new equipment spending totaled $1,786.4 billion in 2022. That category rose 13.2% from revised 2021 levels. New and used equipment spending alone totaled $1,176.9 billion, up 12.0% from revised 2021. These are estimates for the 2021–2022 period, rather than a measure of equipment installed in commercial buildings specifically.
New equipment represented $1,115.0 billion, or 94.7%, of employer-business equipment spending in 2022. Used equipment represented $61.8 billion, or 5.3%. The distinction matters when interpreting investment trends: the ACES estimate records company capital expenditures and does not indicate how much spending went to HVAC, food-service, office, industrial, or other equipment categories.
| 2022 employer-business measure | Amount or share |
|---|---|
| Structures and equipment, new and used | $1,899.9 billion |
| New structures and new equipment | $1,786.4 billion |
| New and used equipment | $1,176.9 billion |
| New equipment | $1,115.0 billion (94.7%) |
| Used equipment | $61.8 billion (5.3%) |
The ACES figures therefore establish the scale of business capital expenditure, while building-level data are needed to understand adoption, equipment mix, floorspace, and operating intensity.
The commercial-building footprint
The 2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) estimated 5.9 million U.S. commercial buildings containing 96.4 billion square feet of floorspace. CBECS is the latest completed national EIA commercial-building survey identified here; its reference year is 2018 and it should not be presented as 2026 data. (Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS))
Equipment-related categories show how varied that building stock is. Buildings with any elevators represented 503 thousand buildings and 36,501 million square feet in 2018. Buildings with one elevator represented 366 thousand buildings and 14,215 million square feet, while buildings with six or more elevators represented 16 thousand buildings and 8,970 million square feet. Any escalators were reported in 14 thousand buildings covering 3,753 million square feet. (Table B1. Building characteristics, 2018)
Operating schedules and ownership also provide context for equipment decisions. Continuously open buildings represented 705 thousand buildings and 19,213 million square feet. Government-owned commercial buildings represented 937 thousand buildings and 21,695 million square feet. Building owners provided direct input on energy-related equipment purchases for 5,127 thousand buildings and 82,862 million square feet.
These CBECS categories are survey estimates. Categories may overlap, and a building count indicates the presence of a type of equipment or characteristic, not the number of individual devices. Building counts are reported in thousands and floorspace in million square feet in the cited tables.
Heating, cooling, and controls
Heating and cooling equipment was widespread across the 2018 commercial-building stock. Packaged heating units were present in 2,187 thousand buildings covering 48,064 million square feet. Boilers were present in 703 thousand buildings covering 28,831 million square feet, and heat pumps were present in 673 thousand buildings covering 15,110 million square feet. (Table B2. Building size, floorspace, and energy intensity, 2018)
On the cooling side, packaged air-conditioning units were present in 2,565 thousand buildings covering 56,290 million square feet. Central chillers were present in 202 thousand buildings covering 17,926 million square feet. The different scales illustrate why adoption should be read as equipment presence across buildings and floorspace, not as a single market-share figure.
Controls and operating practices were also measurable. Economizer cycles were reported in 747 thousand buildings covering 34,087 million square feet. Variable-air-volume systems were reported in 698 thousand buildings covering 29,268 million square feet. Building automation systems controlling heating or cooling were reported in 933 thousand buildings covering 40,462 million square feet. Internet-connected or smart thermostats were reported in 325 thousand buildings covering 5,966 million square feet.
Regular HVAC maintenance was reported in 3,554 thousand buildings covering 78,015 million square feet. The maintenance measure describes reported practice in 2018; it does not establish maintenance quality, frequency beyond the survey definition, or later adoption.
Refrigeration, lighting, and computing
Refrigeration appeared in 3,850 thousand commercial buildings covering 77,589 million square feet in 2018. Walk-in refrigeration units were present in 706 thousand buildings covering 29,384 million square feet, while commercial ice makers were present in 872 thousand buildings covering 34,672 million square feet. Vending machines were present in 800 thousand buildings covering 42,071 million square feet. (Table B1. Building characteristics, 2018)
Buildings with any refrigeration averaged 20.2 thousand square feet per building. This is an average for the subset of buildings with any refrigeration, not the average size of all U.S. commercial buildings and not a count of refrigeration units.
Office and information equipment also had a broad footprint. Desktop computers were present in 3,804 thousand buildings covering 82,012 million square feet. Laptop computers were present in 2,786 thousand buildings covering 69,375 million square feet, and dedicated servers were present in 1,400 thousand buildings covering 51,595 million square feet.
Lighting adoption included both established and newer technologies. LED lighting was present in 2,592 thousand buildings covering 61,847 million square feet. Standard fluorescent lighting was present in 4,019 thousand buildings covering 72,932 million square feet. Because CBECS equipment categories can be multi-response, these building counts are not additive and should not be interpreted as mutually exclusive technology shares.
Energy use by equipment-related end use
U.S. commercial buildings consumed 6,787 trillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy in 2018. Space heating accounted for 32% of commercial-building end-use energy, or 2,167 trillion Btu. Cooling accounted for 9%, lighting for 10%, cooking for 7%, and refrigeration for 5%. Office equipment accounted for 1% of commercial-building end-use energy. (2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey Consumption and Expenditures Highlights)
| 2018 commercial-building end use | Share or amount |
|---|---|
| Space heating | 32% (2,167 trillion Btu) |
| Cooling | 9% |
| Lighting | 10% |
| Cooking | 7% |
| Refrigeration | 5% |
| Office equipment | 1% |
The end-use estimates describe energy consumption, not equipment sales or installed capacity. They also use modeled end-use methods. EIA explains that the 2018 CBECS end-use estimates combine survey information with modeling, so the shares should be read as estimates for the stated population and reference year. (How We Estimated Energy End-Use Consumption in the 2018 CBECS)
The mix differs by building type. Food-service buildings devoted 40% of end-use energy consumption to cooking in 2018. Those buildings had cooling energy intensity of 19.1 thousand Btu per square foot. This food-service result is a subgroup estimate and should not be generalized to all commercial buildings.
Replacement and operating decisions
The 2018 CBECS equipment data also indicate the floorspace affected by upgrades and replacement history. HVAC equipment upgrades were reported for 27,575 million square feet of commercial floorspace. Main heating equipment had been replaced since 2000 in buildings covering 32,451 million square feet, while main cooling equipment had been replaced since 2000 in buildings covering 23,013 million square feet. (Table B18. Energy-related building equipment, 2018)
Water-heating configurations covered substantial areas. Centralized water-heating systems served 59,280 million square feet, and distributed water-heating systems served 14,307 million square feet. Buildings with both centralized and distributed water-heating systems covered 14,129 million square feet.
These measures are floorspace estimates, not counts of replacement projects or equipment units. The replacement reference is “since 2000,” so it spans a long period ending with the 2018 survey reference year. It should not be treated as an annual replacement rate or as a forecast of future purchasing.
Taken together, the available statistics show a commercial-equipment landscape measured at several levels: company capital spending in 2022, building and floorspace adoption in 2018, modeled energy end uses in 2018, and reported upgrade or replacement coverage through the 2018 survey. Each measure has a different population and definition, so comparisons are most useful when the geography, period, units, and survey scope remain explicit.