Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on residential energy consumption: a global literature review

The outbreak of COVID-19 made researchers notice some new points and change their focus, such as the economies of scale for residential energy use, energy dependency of societies, etc. This paper provides a bibliometric analysis of 497 articles by VOSviewer, finding that existing studies on building energy use during COVID-19 could be summarized into four keywords, i.e., building occupants, coronavirus, sustainability and monitoring and management. Significant increases in residential energy consumption are found with the increased duration of in-home-activity, while the growth rate varies between different neighborhoods, different times of day and different usage of energy. Attitudes vary toward the changing trend in the post-pandemic period, and the impacts of lockdown, new confirmed cases, social distancing, etc. on residential energy consumption have been given special attention in recent studies. Policy implications are concluded for maintaining normal operation of residential energy systems under the shock of public health emergencies.

Automated summary

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to changes in research focus, including residential energy use and energy dependency. A bibliometric analysis of 497 articles using VOSviewer identified four keywords: building occupants, coronavirus, sustainability, and monitoring and management. There has been a significant increase in residential energy consumption due to increased in-home activity, with variations in growth rate across neighborhoods, times of day, and energy usage. Recent studies have focused on the impact of lockdowns, new cases, and social distancing on residential energy consumption. Policy implications are provided for maintaining normal operation of residential energy systems during public health emergencies.