One of the effects of C-19 on buildings may be increased energy use from higher ventilation rates and in some cases, ultraviolet lamps to inactivate viral particles. Another more personal take is our own energy use in 2020, vs. the previous year. Starting in mid-March we were working from home. In 2019, we used a total of 5,849 kWh. In 2020, that dropped to 4,980 kWh. 2020 was warmer, so we used less heat pump energy. Jill was doing a lot less work-related driving in our Hyundai Ioniq plug-in hybrid, which is mostly electric driving around MV.
The drop in heat pump water heater energy is an artifact of swapping a unit which had some refrigerant leakage, which drove efficiency down, for a new unit. This is despite an increase in gallons of hot water used from 6,111 in 2019 to 8,464 in 2020 (we had a third person living here for a few months). The manufacturer says that the new unit is not more efficient than the old one, yet in 2020 it made hot water at a rate of 0.048 kWh/gallon, which with a 75F lift (50F to 125F) is a net COP of 3.8.
What increased in 2020? Predictably, the range (we cooked more) and lights and plug loads. (Ignore the well pump, I think there is an issue with the SiteSage on this circuit.) So, more hours at home, and less driving, amounted to a our lowest energy use year.
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