Services

• The services sector is composed of public and private services. The largest sector, measures by floor area, is the commercial sector (31.4 mill. m² in 2022). The volume of warehouses (25.7 mill. m²) and offices (20.3 mill. m²) is large and these can be found both in the public and private sectors. Educational facilities make up a large floor area in the public sector (22.7 mill. m²); the building volume is about double compared to the health services.
• In 2022, final energy consumption of the services sector in Finland was 38 TWh, i.e., about 13% of the total.
• Energy consumption for space heating in the public and private service sector buildings was 19 TWh in 2021. Also, electricity consumption in the sector was 19 TWh.
• Energy consumption by services has grown by 33% in 2000–2022 (without normalization for weather). Floor area of the services sector increased by 54% over the same period. Growth took place in all sectors but was most profound in the commercial sector where floor area grew by 59%.

Figure 1. Index development of (2000 = 100) final energy consumption and floor area of the services sector in 2000–2022.
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The figure two shows the final energy consumption of the services sector in 2000 and 2021, and an analysis of factors which have affected the observed change in consumption (so-called decomposition analysis).

• Final energy consumption increased by 8.9 TWh over the study period.
• Weather increased energy consumption by 1.0 TWh.
• Activity level of the services sector is measured by changes in value added. This would have increased energy consumption by 7.9 TWh, all other things equal. 
• Energy efficiency measures saved 4.0 TWh. The weakness of the analysis behind this result is that it is calculated by energy consumption per employee, which does not measure energy efficiency. 
• Change in productivity, measured as value added per employee, increased consumption by 3.8 TWh.
• Other factors, such as changes in consumer behaviour, increased consumption by 0.2 TWh.

Figure 2. Decomposition of final energy consumption of services in 2000–2021.
Source: Odyssee Database
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