Impact of COVID-19 on Energy Consumption in Public Buildings

Abstract

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on energy consumption in the world and many researchers have found very different energy consumption patterns. The goal of this study was to analyse the patterns of energy consumption in municipal buildings. Altogether data from 262 buildings from 4 municipalities were used and analysed. Results show very different energy consumption patterns for different types of buildings. In schools and education facilities the link between Covid-19 restrictions and energy consumption deviations are visible, but in administration and office buildings it is not the case. This leads to a conclusion that energy consumption in the buildings is not always linked to the level of occupancy of the building, meaning that there is room for improvements on energy management practices and procedures in the municipalities.