Novel load-breakdown methodology for a university office building

Various methodologies can be adopted to evaluate different sub-loads in an office building. These approaches may be based on either non-intrusive or intrusive load monitoring techniques, or a combination of both. This paper presents a novel methodology for evaluating sub-load profiles starting from the total electric load of buildings, following a breakdown methodology. Starting with the total electric load of the building under investigation, this methodology estimates the sub-loads within the total building load, using information regarding the operation of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system (HVAC) and the building management. The proposed methodology has been applied to a reference case study, specifically a university building in the South of Italy. Data collected from a measurement campaign on the main components of the HVAC system have been used to validate the proposed approach, showing that the relative error between measured and estimated data is about 3%. As such, this methodology stands out as an effective process for providing a thorough and comprehensive understanding of buildings’ electricity consumption and for helping in identifying anomalies, faults, and inefficiencies.