A Library of Standardized Model Components for Retail Plug Loads

Miscellaneous electric loads comprise a growing percentage of commercial building energy use, expected to increase from 31% to 43% of total commercial building primary energy use by 2030. In building energy simulations, these loads are often poorly modelled or are outright neglected. A big box retail building with grocery was found to contain over 700 MELs. Through this study, 256 of those devices were metered. That time-series data informed the creation of 260 EnergyPlus model components. Those model components were made publicly available through the newly developed Building Component Library (BCL). The use of these BCL components was worked into a modeller workflow, resulting in accuracy equal to the best of the commonly used plug load modelling strategies for an example building. Detail and repeatability were improved.