Evaluations of nonintrusive load monitoring (NILM) algorithms and technologies have mostly occurred in constrained, artificial environments. However, few field evaluations of NILM products have taken place in actual buildings under normal operating conditions. This paper describes a field evaluation of a state-of-the-art NILM product, tested in eight homes. The match rate metric-a technique recommended by a technical advisory group-was used to measure the NILMs success in identifying specific loads and the accuracy of the energy consumption estimates. A performance assessment protocol was also developed to address common issues with NILM mislabeling and ground-truth comparisons that have not been sufficiently addressed in past evaluations. The NILM products estimates were compared to the submetered consumption of eight major appliances. Overall, the product had good performance in disaggregating the energy consumption of the electric water heaters, which included both electric resistance and heat-pump water heaters, but only a fair accuracy with refrigerators, dryers, and air conditioners. The performance was poor for cooking equipment, furnace fans, clothes washers, and dishwashers. Moreover, the product was often unable to detect major loads in homes. Typically, two or more appliances were not detected in a home. At least two dryers, furnace fans, and air conditioners went undetected across the eight homes. On the other hand, the dishwasher was detected in all homes where available or monitored. The key findings were qualitatively compared to those of past field evaluations. Potential areas for improvement in NILM product performance were determined along with areas where complementary technologies may be able to aid in load-disaggregation applications.

Over time, miscellaneous electric loads (MELs) are expected to increase both in magnitude and share of residential and commercial building energy consumption. This trend is most apparent in North America, but it is also occurring in Japan and Europe. However, the contribution of MELs to building energy use is not currently well understood, both because the products in this category are transforming rapidly and the definition and classification of MELs is ambiguous. This study estimated the national energy consumption of 36 MELs using best-available data and found them to comprise 12% of delivered electricity to the U.S. residential and commercial building sectors. If 26 of these MELs were replaced with the most energy-efficient product models available on the market, their energy consumption could be halved to 6% of delivered electricity. National energy models will better account for building energy consumption by incorporating the MELs data collected and analyzed for this study, leading to improved policy decisions.

Miscellaneous energy loads (MELs) comprise a significant and growing portion of total building energy consumption. However relatively little is known about the products that make up MELs end uses, and MELs are modeled with less granularity than major end uses in energy demand models such as the U.S. Department of Energy's Scout energy efficiency impact analysis tool or the U.S. Energy Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). This paper identifies differences in the way MELs versus major building end uses are modeled, and then reviews potential sources of MELs baseline technology data that could be used to improve their characterization in energy demand models. Case studies of dry distribution transformers, hot water circulation pumps, and Japanese-style automatic bidets are presented to compare and contrast the level of baseline data available for different end uses. We show that there is potential to use data from energy conservation standards and other sources to significantly improve representation of some MELs in energy demand models, while other emerging MELs require further data collection before they can be modeled precisely.