Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on energy consumption in a Canadian social housing building

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic hit societies in full force in 2020 and compelled people all around the world to change their lifestyle. The time spent at home significantly surged during the pandemic and this change in occupancy can have a direct impact on building energy consumption. COVID-19 lockdowns also accelerated the transition towards telework, a trend that many expect to last. Changes in energy consumption under lockdown is thus a valuable asset to forecast how energy could be consumed in buildings in the future. Here, we aim to quantify the impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on the energy consumption (electricity, hot water and space heating) in residential buildings by answering these two questions: (i) Did the lockdown lead to changes in total energy consumption?, and (ii) Did the lockdown lead to changes in consumption patterns (i.e. time of the day at which energy is consumed)? To do so, we compared the energy consumption measured in a 40-dwelling social housing building located in Quebec City (Canada) during four months of lockdown to those of the months that preceded the lockdown. It is found that consumption patterns for electricity and hot water changed for the first two months of the lockdown, when the most intensive lockdown measures were applied. Overall consumption slightly increased for these two energy expenditures, but the more important change was that consumption occurred throughout the day instead of being concentrated in the evening as observed before the lockdown. Results shed light on the impact of lockdown on energy bills for consumers and on how energy utilities might be solicited during this kind of episode.

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

“…Another study reviewed the total electricity demand for several different locations, sectorial electricity demand, and residential electricity demand patterns which showed an overall decrease in total electricity demand, but up to a 30% increase in the residential sector. Through analyzing the average electricity loads for housing units with rooftop solar, analysis identifies an increase in electricity use during daytime hours when there is higher occupancy [ 22 ]. While these studies provide insight into residential energy use for before and during the pandemic, there are limitations in the quantification of these changes in electricity use for a typical housing unit, in addition to understanding how residential buildings continued to be impacted during the several months following the initial lockdown period.…”

Feasibility Analysis of COVID-19 Response Guidelines at Construction Sites in South Korea Using CYCLONE in Terms of Cost and Time

“…The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in earnest in 2020 and has since changed the way of life of people worldwide (Mckinsey 2020;Rouleau and Gosselin 2021). Specifically, social distancing has become the norm in most countries to prevent the spread of COVID-19.…”

Energy and Environmental Effects of Human Habits in Residential Buildings Due to COVID-19 Outbreak Scenarios in a Dwelling near Rome

“…Homes have suddenly become places for living, sleeping, cooking, working, studying, and keeping fit, with the possibility (and need) of using appliances at any time. Thus, total energy consumption has changed, affecting energy consumption at a large scale such as in districts or municipalities [23][24][25][26], or counties [27,28], and at a small scale (e.g., homes), as also proven by questionnaire surveys [29] and monitoring [30].…”

“…In particular, in [30], the authors found that lockdown measures influenced electric and hot water consumption and use, when the most intensive lockdown measures were applied, impacting consumer energy bills and how energy utilities might have been solicited during the pandemic.…”