Analysis of Energy Consumption in Commercial and Residential Buildings in New York City before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study compares the energy burden of New York City office buildings versus personal residences before and during the stay-at-home period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scope is comprised of employees that, prior to the stay-at-home order, underwent a daily commute to and from a representative midtown Manhattan office building. Energy consumed by these employees with respect to the office building they work in, their transportation there, and their personal residence was determined using publicly available data. Energy usage and cost per person per day were compared in both remote and in-person work settings. The results of this study demonstrated that remote working conditions consume 39.7% less energy and required less personal expense compared to in-person working conditions. Additionally, the results found that a building occupancy of 65% is where the energy burden shifts from residential to commercial sectors. This study can be a starting point of discussion for businesses regarding staffing of commercial buildings and energy efficiency. Future work on this topic would benefit from having a more robust data set compared to the publicly available data used in this study.

Thermal Loads Map and Overall Energy Analysis Depending on Low-Effort Parameters Change: A Commercial Building Case Study

“…The work organization based on three working days implies a larger adoption of "work from home" arrangement, whose effectiveness in terms of work-life balance has already been demonstrated [41] as well as the increase in job satisfaction and employee well-being [42]. Regarding the environmental aspect, despite currently being a topic of great interest because there are many elements to be considered (e.g., commuting distance, private/public transport, HVAC plants, local emission factors, building insulation), enhancing remote working wherever possible could be a win-win pattern for both the employers and employees, in addition to the reduction in the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions related to the workers' transport [43]. Furthermore, at the public sector level, the outdated remote working barriers such as diffidence and "presence culture" should be overcome: as stated in [44], strong leaderships and ongoing communication when teleworking strengthen the administration resilience and improve the job effectiveness by granting autonomy on the working operation.…”

Deterioration of Electrical Load Forecasting Models in a Smart Grid Environment

“…However, multi-node forecasting is an efficient process considered for forecasting in the study. Deiss, M. B. et al [19] compare the difference in electrical load between office buildings and residentials during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study provided the power consumption comparison while working at the office and workfrom-home scenarios, presenting the hypothesis of increment and decrement of energy consumption in residential and commercial buildings in case of a pandemic.…”

Impact of COVID-19 on the energy consumption of commercial buildings: A case study in Singapore

“…Business travel also fell sharply, accelerating the significant drop in hotel occupancy rates and frequent hotel closures [16] . While studying office buildings, Deiss et al [17] noted that in early March 2020, 1.4 million employees were working in Manhattan, US. In May 2020, during the home-based period, the number quickly dropped to 41,000 employees as offices allowed only essential staff to continue working to slow the spread of the virus.…”