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A Field Study on Residential Air Conditioning Peak Loads During Summer in College Station, Texas
Abstract
Severe capacity problems are experienced by electric utilities during hot summer afternoons.
Several studies have found that, in large part, electric peak loads can be attributed to residential airconditioning
use. This air-conditioning peak depends primarily on two factors: (i) the manner in which the
homeowner operates his air-conditioner during the hot summer afternoons, and (ii) the amount by which
the air-conditioner has been over-designed. Whole-house and air-conditioner electricity use data at 15
minute time intervals have been gathered and analyzed for 8 residences during the summer of 1991, six
of which had passed the College Station Good Cents tests. Indoor air temperatures were measured by a
mechanical chart recorder, while a weather station located on the main campus of Texas A&M university
provided the necessary climatic data, especially ambient temperature, relative humidity and solar
radiation. The data were analysed to determine the extent to which air-conditioning over-sizing and
homeowner intervention contributes to peak electricity use for newer houses in College Station, Texas.
Description
The measured data and various analysis approaches described were able to qualitatively reveal whether the AC was oversized or not but exact quantification was not possible. The same held true in terms of being able to identify the presence of human behavior on thermostat operation (and thus, on whole-house electricity peaks). Consequently, we were unable to quantitatively determine the amount of peak shaving potential in these houses.Collections
Citation
Reddy, T. A.; Vaidya, S.; Griffith, L.; Bhattacharyya, S.; Claridge, D. E. (1992). A Field Study on Residential Air Conditioning Peak Loads During Summer in College Station, Texas. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu), Texas A&M University; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /2107.