The effect of appliance energy efficiency improvements on domestic electric loads in European households

Abstract: Across Europe domestic electricity consumption is on the rise. In an attempt to counter this increase, various initiatives have been introduced to promote the replacement of less energy-efficient appliances with more efficient ones. Whilst the likely aggregate effect of such measures over long time periods has been modelled extensively, little is known about the affect that a change to higher efficiency appliances will have on the electrical demand profile of individual households at higher temporal resolutions. To address this issue a means by which established approaches to detailed electrical demand modelling can be adapted to simulate the improvements in the efficiency of appliances is elaborated in this paper. A process is developed by which low-resolution empirical appliance demand data can be transformed to produce high-resolution electrical demand data for different periods in the year, factoring in improvements in appliance performance. The process is applied to simulate the effects a changeover to more energy-efficient appliances would have on the minute resolution demand profiles of a group of households. Results indicate that improving the energy-efficiency of appliances in households leads to a significant reduction in electrical energy requirements but does not appear to have a significant affect on the peak electrical demand. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]