Abstract
Aged care communities have been under the spotlight since the beginning of 2020. Energy is essential to ensure reliable operation and quality care provision in residential aged care communities (RAC). The aim of this study is to determine how RAC’s yearly energy use and peak demand changed in Australia and what this might mean for RAC design, operation and energy asset investment and ultimately in the healthcare plan for elderly residents. Five years of electricity demand data from four case study RACs in the same climate zone are analyzed. Statistical tools are used to analyze the data, and a clustering algorithm is used to identify typical demand profiles. A number of energy key performance indicators (KPIs) are evaluated, highlighting their respective benefits and limitations. The results show an average 8% reduction for yearly energy use and 7% reduction for yearly peak demands in the COVID-19 year compared with the average of the previous four years. Typical demand profiles for the four communities were mostly lower in the pandemic year. Despite these results, the KPI analysis shows that, for these four communities, outdoor ambient temperature remains a very significant correlation factor for energy use.
Highlights
About 40% of global energy use is related to buildings [1,2]
Electricity for space cooling and heating tends to account for the highest energy use in Australian residential aged care communities (RAC) [6,7,8]
Australian businesses in the state of Victoria experienced 5% to 10% daily demand reduction in March 2020; for households in the same region, electricity demand in the same period increased by about 5% [17]
Summary
About 40% of global energy use is related to buildings [1,2]. Healthcare is estimated to contribute to 4.4% of global net emissions [4]. Energy as an essential supply is critical to ensure reliable operation and quality care provision at healthcare facilities, such as hospitals or residential aged care communities (RACs). Electricity for space cooling and heating tends to account for the highest energy use in Australian RACs [6,7,8]. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the way aged care communities operate, promoted vulnerability and resilience considerations [9] and resulted in changes in energy use and peak demand [10]
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