Household energy and comfort impacts under teleworking scenarios via a zoned residential HVAC system

Abstract

Teleworking is a prevalent example of partial building occupancy and prevents homeowners from using a setback or set up temperature setpoint to save energy. Due to a lack of certainty on how teleworking affects houses, this study aimed to quantify energy consumption and thermal comfort under different teleworking scenarios. Likewise, the effect of HVAC zoning by comparing two-zone houses with one-zone houses is investigated. Three teleworking scenarios across six Canadian climate zones were used to assess two house models with two HVAC zoning configurations. The results of this study indicate that teleworking increases energy consumption by up to 9% in houses. By employing the two-zone house instead of the one-zone house, energy performance benefits from using two thermostats in a house. The results show that two-zone HVAC systems can reduce energy consumption by up to 31% and thermal discomfort by up to 24% compared to traditional one-zone houses.