Impacts of COVID-19 on Residential Building Energy Usage and Performance

ABSTRACT

As stay-at-home orders, temporary school closures, and other preventative measures have been implemented across the nation to slow the spread of COVID- 19, typical pre-COVID-19 routines have been significantly changed as people are advised to avoid social engagements and limit travel. With this shiftin behavior, people are working from home and children are learning remotely. This has resulted in a shiftin use of household appliances, HVAC, and other energy-consuming devices during typical working hours to support the work and school functions that usually occur outside of the home. Submetered energy usage data has been reviewed for several hundred residential buildings, including pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 time periods, to assess the impact of this shifton residential building energy consumption for both HVAC and non-HVAC loads. Non-HVAC end use energy consumption, particularly during typical working hours, increased compared to pre-COVID periods. In addition, daily energy consumption increased when compared to identical months and homes in pre-COVID scenarios. Weather-normalized HVAC consumption trends were also found to have increased. The results of these findings indicate the importance of considering previous assumptions for HVAC use, internal loads, and other end uses, how they may change moving forward, and the need to further study these trends.