Homes are increasingly well insulated, greatly reducing heat loss through walls, roof and floor. This means that people and their appliances play an increasingly important part in the energy management of the home. In order to enable experimentation in this area, ECN has developed an Energy Pattern Generator (EPG). “This can be used to compile a detailed energy consumption profile of four types of residents; from luxury lovers to frugal freaks. It saves having to build a test home where you simulate active households,” Bart Roossien of ECN Efficiency & Infrastructure explains. 

For years a specific value had been attributed to the transmission of heat from a particular type of home. This value defined the heat loss; the residents’ behaviour caused this ‘constant’ value to fluctuate only slightly. As a result of the improved building techniques, the constant value of heat transmission in the home has fallen and the effect of the heat produced by the residents and household appliances is comparatively greater. This is also evident from the fluctuations, which are more irregular than one might expect. Roossien: “You’ll see a sudden surge when everyone switches the dishwasher after supper and starts to watch television, for example.”
Unique calculation model primarily uses dynamic occupant behaviour
User profiles already existed but these were not adequate for ECN’s purposes. “They work with weekly figures, which is fine for an annual overview,” Roossien explains. “For our research we want to identify the daily fluctuations in gas consumption and monitor the electricity consumption minute by minute.” This interest stems from the development of intelligent grids. You want to harmonise the supply and demand of electricity intelligently. Not just per household but also per district, or even taking it to the highest level: international exchange of electric energy. There is another development that renders the old profiles inadequate: tomorrow’s households will not only consume electricity, they will also produce it. By means of a solar panel on the roof perhaps, or a Micro-CHP as opposed to a combi boiler. This should be taken into account, of course.

House of the future
Ideas about the Dutch house of the future will take shape in the research programme Building Future, a long-term TNO and ECN programme. They have joined forces to boost the transition to sustainable energy management. Their collective target for the built environment in the Netherlands is a 50% reduction in CO2 emission by 2030 and full energy neutrality by 2050. Building Future is linked to the EOS-LT programme System Approach in the SenterNovem Built Environment, and the Energy Transition in the Built Environment platform (PeGO). The Building Future researchers consistently apply a number of important criteria. They only consider components fully integrated into systems, not as stand-alone components. They are interested in the connection between energy-related aspects with attention to comfort, health, indoor air quality, integrated environmental performance, building processes, aesthetics, behaviour and cost. Central in this is the occupant: thanks to this integral approach, they will have a climate-neutral building with a high living quality.

Profiles
The occupants appear to vary considerably in terms of energy consumption. Based on the welfare standard and required level of luxury, the researcher defined four variables (room temperature when the occupant is home, room temperature when the occupant is not home, ventilation in living room and use of swing door in the hall). The combinations of these variables lead to the following five clusters:
1. Conservative (low room temperature and little ventilation)
2. Luxury (high scores for three of the four variables)
3. Cool (low temperature, average to a lot of ventilation)
4. Warm (average to high room temperature and little ventilation)
5. Average (average scores for both room temperature and ventilation)

The above clusters are related to socio-economic parameters. But there is also a psycho-social element which, applied here, enables you to classify people according to their tendency towards energy awareness. The extent to which occupants are inclined to accept energy-saving measures is strongly dependent on this awareness. Research reveals that all households can be associated with one of the following motives:
• Convenience, is looking for comfort, not interested in energy consumption, economic issues or environmental impact;
• Environmental awareness, chooses comfort but is aware of the consequences this has on the environment and on spending;
• Cost, is aware that energy costs money and uses as little gas and electricity as possible;
• Climate/Environment, is very concerned about the climate and environment; all choices are determined by their concern for the environment.

Clusters and energy profile converge in to an (energy) user profile. Applying these profiles to Dutch households, taking the average energy consumption to be 100 %, will reveal the differences. The Convenience people use twice as much energy as average people. The Environmentally Conscious Comfort Seeker uses 85 % of what the average energy consumer would use. The Cost-Cutter uses approximately 65 % of the average, with the Climate/ Environmental Freak scoring in between: 74 %.

Peaks and troughs, not averages
The dynamic Energy Pattern Generator uses these user profiles for its calculations. The researchers enter all the variables: the number of occupants per household, their pattern of being home or out, type of room heating and tap water (district heating, heat pump, gas boiler). The typical energy consumption of all these appliances is entered into a database. Thanks to the answers to a questionnaire, it is also known how often and when the appliances are used. It is only logical that a luxury household will have more appliances than a frugal family’s home.
Roossien stresses the significance of the word ‘dynamic’. “Just like other calculation models, the EPG can generate averages. What makes it unique is that it will also show the peaks and troughs in energy consumption. The EPG will show how much gas or electricity each appliance uses, minute by minute, if necessary.”
This is valuable information for the infrastructure designer, as the electricity cables should be able to cope with the maximum peak, however rarely that might occur. Shouldn’t it? Bart Roossien shakes his head: “The future lies in intelligent grids, which will enable you to spread energy demand and avoid those nasty peaks. That is favourable for the supply-side and also reduces the amount of copper needed for the infrastructure.”

Contact
Joost Paauw
ECN Efficiency & Infrastructure
Tel.: +31 (0)22 456 4014
E-mail: Joost Paauw

Info
To see or download the full report on the Energy Pattern Generator.
Surf to Building Future to learn more about this research programme.

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