A Review of Existing Commercial Energy Use Intensity and Load Shape Studies

This paper reviews and compares existing studies of energy use intensities (BUIs) and load shapes (LSs) in the commercial sector, focusing on stud that used California data" Our review of EDI studies found fairly good agreement on electric lighting and cooling EUIs. Other BUIs, notably electric miscellaneous in offices, retail, and food stores; electric refrigeration in restaurants and warehouses; electric cooking in restaurants; and electric water heating and ventilation for all types of premises exhibited the largest variations. The major variations in gas EUls were found in restaurants (all end uses) and food stores (cooking and water heating). OUf review of LS studies, which included existing LSs in use by Southern. California Edison (SeE) Company, the California Energy Commission (CEC), and a Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) study, uncovered two significant features of existing LS estimates.. First, LSs were generally not consistent between studies (e.g. SCE and CEC had different load shapes for the same end use in the same type of premises), but these differences could often be related to differences in assumptions for operating hours$ Second, for a given type of premise, LSs were often identical for each month and for peak and standard-days, suggesting that, according to some studies, these end uses were not affected by seasonal or climatic influences.