Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Energy Consumption in Office Buildings: A Case Study of an Australian University Campus

Sara Tavakoli, Wipa Loengbudnark, Melissa Eklund, Alexey Voinov and Kaveh Khalilpour ()
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Sara Tavakoli: Faculty of Engineering & IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Wipa Loengbudnark: Faculty of Engineering & IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Melissa Eklund: Faculty of Engineering & IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Alexey Voinov: Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Kaveh Khalilpour: Faculty of Engineering & IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: Building energy management, in terms of both adopted technologies and occupant consumption behaviour, is becoming an essential element of sustainability and climate change mitigation programs. The global COVID-19 pandemic and the consequential lockdowns and remote working had a notable impact on office building operations and provided a unique opportunity for building energy consumption studies. This paper investigates the COVID-19 effects on energy consumption in office buildings, particularly in the education sector. We studied different buildings at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) campus before and during the pandemic period. The results demonstrate that the changes in energy consumption due to COVID-19 in different UTS faculties are not as strongly correlated with occupant activity. The comparison shows that buildings with administrative offices or classrooms are easier to switch to a remote-working mode than those housing laboratories and special equipment. During weekends, public holidays, or conditions requiring working from home, the per capita energy consumption increases significantly translating into lower energy efficiency. Our findings highlight the essential need for some changes in office building energy management systems. We provide recommendations for office and commercial buildings in general to deal with similar crises and to reduce energy overconsumption in normal situations.

Keywords: COVID-19; lockdown; building energy management; building management system (BMS); commercial building; university building (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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