PNNL

Abstract

To understand whether a novel, cost effective approach can support a national program that reports on residential energy consumption, a two-phase research study was undertaken by a federal statistical agency and a national laboratory to evaluate the latest load disaggregation technologies. This paper will present the results of the first phase of the study, which explored whether load disaggregation technologies have the potential to inform end-use estimates for a national survey on residential energy consumption Historically, residential submetering projects have been implemented using a combination of plug-load and circuit-level monitoring. This approach is expensive, requires extensive onsite installation, and faces limitations in measuring smaller and portable end uses. In recent years, innovative computing technologies have entered the market that use algorithms to analyze electric signals and disaggregate household end uses. If proven sufficiently accurate and reliable, these technologies would simplify the identification and measurement of distinct end uses and improve end-use consumption estimation. The first phase of the study was planned as an initial assessment of the three load disaggregation products with the objective of determining the strongest candidates for further evaluation in the second phase. The load disaggregation products were evaluated based on their ability to measure total electricity for the home, detect end uses, measure electricity consumption of end uses, and perform reliably without burdening participants. If demonstrated as effective, obtaining end-use energy consumption data through load disaggregation technology would provide an invaluable check for the national survey at a minimum, and could potentially offer insight for enhancements.