Volume 9: Sustainable Energy Solutions for Changing the World: Part I

The Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on Household Budget, Energy Demand and Carbon Emission of Households in England due to Working from Home Arijit Sen, Amin Al-Habaibeh

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic situation is forcing people to work from home due to lockdown; and as a result, there could be an effect on domestic energy consumption as well as carbon emission, particularly during winter. This paper investigates the change in energy demand, household budget and Carbon emission in upcoming winter of 2020/2021 due to the new patterns of working from home. The results show that a family with well insulated house that normally use a car or more to travel, will not be affected significantly in terms of their household budget; and the increase of carbon emission from heating will be compensated by the reduction in car use. For a family with poorly insulated house who do not travel long distances to work, the lockdown will cause more strain on their budget and they will be consuming more energy for heating and hence producing more carbon emission. The novel methodology implemented can be used to assess energy poverty and the effect of Covid-19 on households in other countries.

Keywords Carbon emission; heating; energy poverty; working from home; Covid-19; coronavirus