ELECTRIC LOADS IN RESIDENTIAL AND OFFICE BUILDINGS IN ITALY

The study presented in this paper was developed in the framework of a wide and long lasting research aimed at developing a platform to carry out energy simulation at district level, with particular reference to the Italian conditions. In this context it was necessary to define hourly profiles regarding occupancy and the usage of lighting and appliances for different building typologies. The importance of providing a proper definition of the electric demand is well known because it affects both the building heating/cooling demand and the operation of power plants and control systems. Usually reference mean values or statistically determined ones are adopted in dynamic simulations, while this study compares several possible references, such as previous works, scientific reports related to monitoring projects of existing buildings, norms and technical literature. Among these, the most complete reference was assumed as main data source in order to elaborate the provided values and define hourly profiles for lighting and appliances in residential and office buildings. In order to assign the proper scenario to different building typologies, the resulting electricity demands were compared with results from monitoring projects, while the effect on the building thermal energy demand was compared with the official Italian reference standard. Final consideration about electric profiles definition and future developments are provided.