Impacts of COVID-19 on residential building energy use and performance

Following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in cases across the United States, the typical daily routines of millions were disrupted as the country attempted to control the spread of the virus. As a result, homes became makeshift offices, classrooms, restaurants, and entertainment centers. With these changes in how residential buildings are used, surveys and grid-level studies have been conducted to understand how energy use has shifted due to the pandemic. However, there are limited efforts that review the impact of energy use at the household level. In this study, high-resolution, disaggregated data is analyzed to measure the shifts in electricity use related to HVAC loads, non-HVAC loads, and whole-home loads in a comparison of 225 housing units over the years of 2018–2020. Key findings from the analyses indicated increased electricity use during periods that occupants would usually be away from home. The most percent increases in non-HVAC residential loads occurred between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.; HVAC loads increasing in total daily consumption compared to the same average daily temperatures of previous years. Additionally, dividing the data by household income, the lowest income and higher income households experienced the larger increases in consumption, while the middle income groups experience smaller shifts.