COVID-19 pandemic ramifications on residential Smart homes energy use load profiles

Supriya Chinthavali; Varisara Tansakul; Sangkeun Lee; Matthew Whitehead; Anika Tabassum; Mahabir Bhandari; Jeff Munk; Helia Zandi; Heather Buckberry; Teja Kuruganti; Justin Hill; Chase Cortner

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.111847

COVID-19 pandemic ramifications on residential Smart homes energy use load profiles

Supriya Chinthavali, Varisara Tansakul, Sangkeun Lee, Matthew Whitehead, Anika Tabassum, Mahabir Bhandari, Jeff Munk, Helia Zandi, Heather Buckberry, Teja Kuruganti, Justin Hill, Chase Cortner

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected people's behavioral patterns and schedules because of stay-at-home orders and a reduction of social interactions. Therefore, the shape of electrical loads associated with residential buildings has also changed. In this paper, we quantify the changes and perform a detailed analysis on how the load shapes have changed, and we make potential recommendations for utilities to handle peak load and demand response. Our analysis incorporates data from before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, from an Alabama Power Smart Neighborhood with energy-efficient/smart devices, using around 40 advanced metering infrastructure data points. This paper highlights the energy usage pattern changes between weekdays and weekends pre– and post–COVID-19 pandemic times. The weekend usage patterns look similar pre– and post–COVID-19 pandemic, but weekday patterns show significant changes. We also compare energy use of the Smart Neighborhood with a traditional neighborhood to better understand how energy-efficient/smart devices can provide energy savings, especially because of increased work-from-home situations. HVAC and water heating remain the largest consumers of electricity in residential homes, and our findings indicate an even further increase in energy use by these systems.

Original language	English
Article number	111847
Journal	Energy and Buildings
Volume	259
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.111847
State	Published - Mar 15 2022

Funding

This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technology Office under contract number DE-AC05-000R22725, This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technology Office under contract number DE-AC05-000R22725 This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).

Funders	Funder number
DOE Public Access Plan
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technology Office	DE-AC05-00OR22725, DE-AC05-000R22725
U.S. Department of Energy

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic
Energy efficiency
Energy use Load profiles
Smart homes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.111847

Cite this

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title = "COVID-19 pandemic ramifications on residential Smart homes energy use load profiles",

abstract = "The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected people's behavioral patterns and schedules because of stay-at-home orders and a reduction of social interactions. Therefore, the shape of electrical loads associated with residential buildings has also changed. In this paper, we quantify the changes and perform a detailed analysis on how the load shapes have changed, and we make potential recommendations for utilities to handle peak load and demand response. Our analysis incorporates data from before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, from an Alabama Power Smart Neighborhood with energy-efficient/smart devices, using around 40 advanced metering infrastructure data points. This paper highlights the energy usage pattern changes between weekdays and weekends pre– and post–COVID-19 pandemic times. The weekend usage patterns look similar pre– and post–COVID-19 pandemic, but weekday patterns show significant changes. We also compare energy use of the Smart Neighborhood with a traditional neighborhood to better understand how energy-efficient/smart devices can provide energy savings, especially because of increased work-from-home situations. HVAC and water heating remain the largest consumers of electricity in residential homes, and our findings indicate an even further increase in energy use by these systems.",

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AU - Bhandari, Mahabir

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AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected people's behavioral patterns and schedules because of stay-at-home orders and a reduction of social interactions. Therefore, the shape of electrical loads associated with residential buildings has also changed. In this paper, we quantify the changes and perform a detailed analysis on how the load shapes have changed, and we make potential recommendations for utilities to handle peak load and demand response. Our analysis incorporates data from before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, from an Alabama Power Smart Neighborhood with energy-efficient/smart devices, using around 40 advanced metering infrastructure data points. This paper highlights the energy usage pattern changes between weekdays and weekends pre– and post–COVID-19 pandemic times. The weekend usage patterns look similar pre– and post–COVID-19 pandemic, but weekday patterns show significant changes. We also compare energy use of the Smart Neighborhood with a traditional neighborhood to better understand how energy-efficient/smart devices can provide energy savings, especially because of increased work-from-home situations. HVAC and water heating remain the largest consumers of electricity in residential homes, and our findings indicate an even further increase in energy use by these systems.

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COVID-19 pandemic ramifications on residential Smart homes energy use load profiles

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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