Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Residential Energy Use-Related Activity Trends and Patterns Using the American Time Use Survey Data

The COVID-19 pandemic had a massive impact on work-life, with most workers forced to work from home due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. This study aims to explore the trends in residential energy-use-related behavior patterns from 2019 to 2021. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering applied to respondents' daily activity data extracted from the American Time Use Survey data revealed changes in respondents' activity profiles over the period. A time series analysis of the daily energy-use activities patterns in the residential setting showed significant relocation of work-related tasks from the commercial to residential settings. The studies revealed a more than 5% increase in Work from Home (WFH) from 2019 to 2021 and an over 4% decrease in Work from Office (WFO) from 2019 to 2021. These findings provide information on residential energy-use-related behavior trends to energy policy decision-makers and can help make critical energy policy decisions that can help lessen the energy bill burden and promote energy equity and justice.