A systematic time-use based approach for estimating residential energy consumption

Research on energy demand tends to treat work and home separately, despite the fact that the two are interconnected. The aim of this presentation is to investigate the relationship between duration of the work and energy-related activities (such as Dish washing, Ironing, Food preparation, Laundry and TV, video or DVD watching) in the home. It presents network analysis of data from the 2014-2015 UK National Time Use Survey. Research questions addressed in this presentation relate to (i) how the duration of work affects the cohesion between energy relevant activities; (ii) how centrality parameters of the energy-relevant activities change between and across work days; (iii) examples of how changes in the timing of some energy-relevant activities may impact the configuration of the day; and (iv) estimates how working from home and flexible working hours can affect the timing and amount of people’s energy consumption. Findings are presented in terms of cohesion between activities based on the duration of the work day, inter and intra-day variations in connections between activities, energy relevant-activities with an intermediary role and an example on clustering of food preparation activity.