Variations in Residential Building Electricity-Consuming Appliances Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Following a major outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and strong rise in cases, the daily life of people in the United States was significantly impacted. The pandemic resulted in 'stay-in-home' orders for many people, which generally required people to stay in their residences except for necessities, for several months during mid-2020 and beyond. As many people started working from home, it resulted in a change in their typical activities and daily routines, and therefore for many, it also had as significant impact on their home's energy consumption. However, given the limited submetered energy consumption data available for the large majority of homes, there are not many studies that analyze the impact of the pandemic on energy consumption at the household-level. In this study, the electricity used by energy consuming building systems (non-HVAC only), for multiple homes is compared during the pandemic (2020) and pre-pandemic (2018) time in a hot and humid climate in Austin, Texas. A high resolution and disaggregated energy consumption dataset were used for a total of 42 housing units. Electricity consumption data was compared at different time intervals to determine which energy consuming devices change in use most during 2020. Overall electricity use increased significantly for many of the housing units studied during normal business hours on weekdays. Depending on the time of day, the specific appliances and end uses increased in electricity use most. As the peak of the pandemic subsides, it is likely that some of the changes in behavior and work-from-home scenarios will be different than pre-pandemic times, likely having long-timer impacts on energy consumption behavior and energy use in residential buildings. This is important for improving the accuracy of building energy modeling and grid-level energy demand predictions.