Survey-based analysis of the electrical energy demand in Italian households

Abstract

According to Eurostat statistics, electrical energy covered 17.5% of the final energy consumptions in Italian households in 2015, and the electrical intensity increase of 8.9% from 2000 to 2015. ISTAT survey on energy consumption of households represents a valuable source of data for an extensive analysis of this topic. In order to evaluate these data, a model has been implemented in Matlab®, which calculates the electrical energy demand for lighting, electrical appliances, cooking appliances, DHW boilers, space heating and cooling. The present paper describes the methodology and the main results obtained with the above ISTAT dataset, consisting of 20,000 records. The numerical model allows allocating the electrical energy consumption for each end-use, in order to obtain a reliable estimation of the households' habits. Furthermore, it provides a useful tool applicable to the next surveys, in order to analyse the evolution of the electrical consumption of Italian households, to evaluate the potential energy savings of specific retrofit measures and to provide recommendations for policy actions supporting the improvement of the energy efficiency in the residential sector.