Services

• The services sector is composed of public and private services. The largest sector, measured by floor area, is the commercial sector (31.4 mill. m² in 2023). The volume of warehouses (25.4 mill. m²) and offices (19.8 mill. m²) is large and these can be found both in the public and private sectors. Educational facilities make up a large area in the public sector (22.4 mill. m²); the building volume is about double compared to the health services.  
• In 2023, final energy consumption of the services sector in Finland was 37 TWh, i.e., about 13% of the total.
• Energy consumption for space heating in the public and private service sector buildings was 19.6 TWh in 2023 and electricity consumption 19.1 TWh. 
• Final energy consumption by services has grown by 39% in 2000–2023 (without normalization for weather). Floor area of the services sector increased by 52% over the same period. Growth took place in all sectors but was most profound in the commercial sector where the floor area grew by 59 % and in warehouses, where the floor area increased by 63% in 2006-2023. 

Figure 1. Index development of (2000 = 100) final energy consumption and floor area of the services sector in 2000–2023.
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The next figure shows the final energy consumption of the services sector in 2000 and 2022, 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 0.1 TWh. 
• Activity level of the services sector is measured by changes in value added.  This would have increased energy consumption by 8.7 TWh, all other things equal.  
• Energy efficiency measures saved 4.8 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 3.1 TWh. 
• Other factors, such as changes in consumer behaviour, increased consumption by 0.1 TWh. 

Figure 2. Decomposition of final energy consumption of services in 2000–2022.
Source: Odyssee Database
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