Data Driven Approaches to Understanding Occupant Natural Gas Use in Low-Income Multifamily Communities
The data acquisition and modeling work from this project will identify the behavior factors that drive up natural gas use followed by behavioral intervention in order to determine the most effective strategies for reducing residential natural gas
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
Recipient
Palo Alto, CA
Recipient Location
13th
Senate District
23rd
Assembly District
$285,443
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
The project is complete. The project team designed an innovative approach that combined advanced data analytics, smart devices, and low-cost disaggregated data monitoring to understand and reduce fossil gas usage in low-income communities. Through data collection, occupant surveys, and data analytics, the project gives recommendations for behavioral interventions that were shown to be effective in reducing fossil gas usage among occupants of the two low-income communities that were being studied.
The Issue
Low-income households spend a disproportionate share of their monthly income on energy. In instances where fossil gas and electricity are master-metered, the energy costs are often part of the monthly rent, resulting in high utility costs for low-income households. While advanced technologies can contribute to energy use reductions for these communities, behavior change is a significant under-tapped source of energy savings.
Project Innovation
This project aimed to understand low-income occupant behavior related to fossil gas usage. This research identified behavioral factors that increase fossil gas consumption, recommended effective behavioral strategies to reduce fossil gas usage, and tested behavioral interventions. The project provided information on the water heating, space heating, and cooking loads of two low-income apartment complexes in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project integrated data from smart thermostats, new advanced gas sub-metering technology, and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data. The data provided information on the impact of temperature set-points, hot water usage, and cooking behavior, while AMI data was used to determine historical baseline usage and to correlate whole home performance and impact at the individual device level. The collected data increased knowledge of fossil gas use and occupant behavior and identified intervention strategies and customized solutions, including the use of advanced energy technologies, that can potentially lead to lower fossil gas use for the low-income sector.
Affordability
Understanding fossil gas usage patterns can help identify strategies to reduce energy used for heating. This directly results in less money spent on energy by low-income residents. This is especially important in low-income communities where a bigger portion of their income is attributed to energy costs.
Equity
Low-income households spend a disproportionate share of their monthly income on energy. In instances where fossil gas and electricity are master-metered, the energy costs are often part of the monthly rent, resulting in high utility costs for low-income households. While advanced technologies can contribute to energy use reductions for these communities, behavior change is a significant under-tapped source of energy savings.
