Architecture Commons^™

The Reduction Of Plug Loads: The Next Obstacle In Achieving Net Zero Energy Buildings, Cian O'Driscoll, Garrett O’Sullivan, Jim Harrison

Conference Papers

As industry pushes for further reductions in the energy consumption of buildings the era of net zero energy, zero carbon buildings has been realised. However, this frontier of highly efficient architecture has unveiled the considerably large problem of plug loads. In a typical office building plug load alone can account for 15% of total energy consumption. In a Net Zero Energy building that percentage can increase to 50+%. This paper discusses the reasons for this increasingly significant building energy load and the importance of reducing it. A methodological approach and results of monitoring the kWh consumption at plug level and …