Seasonality of non-heating consumption and its effect on PRISM results

• Published in: Energy and buildings Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 139 - 148
• Main Authors: Fels, Margaret F., Rachlin, James, Socolow, Robert H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 1986; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; buildings; electricity; Energy; energy conservation; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; furnaces; Heating, air conditioning and ventilation; mathematical models; PRISM; seasonal variations; Technical data: comfort, insulation, loads, etc; Theoretical study; Energy consumption; Energy diagnosis; Energy conservation; Dwelling building; Residential sector
• ISSN: 0378-7788
• DOI: 10.1016/0378-7788(86)90015-0

By subtracting furnace submeter readings from whole-house meter readings, the variability of the energy consumed by appliances using the same fuel as the furnace is examined. Comparable analyses are performed on two sets of houses, one with gas and the other with electric heating. Although erratic month-to-month fluctuations occur in individual houses, median results for non-heating consumption show a strong sinusoidal pattern, for both fuels, with a peak in winter and a valley in summer. The effect of this seasonality on PRISM results is investigated. It is found that the model's estimate of base-level consumption represents the level of consumption in summer while, on average, the increased non-heating consumption during the remainder of the year loads systematically onto the model's estimate of heating consumption, without deteriorating its performance. A new method for approximating the resulting hidden non-heating component of consumption from whole-house billing data is proposed. Thus a new interpretation of Normalized Annual Consumption (NAC) is derived in terms of three components: base level, hidden non-heating, and heating consumption.