NREL Research Support Facility 2011 Hourly Energy Consumption

2011 hourly measured energy data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Research Support Facility. The dataset contains nine key power consumption variables, including Total Building, Cooling, Heating, Lighting, Plug Loads, Data Center, and PV generation. It was collected by NREL researchers to monitor and understand building system performance under dynamic conditions of weather, occupancy, and maintenance.

Use Cases

• Model building energy consumption by analyzing relationships between Total Cooling (kW), Total Heating (kW), and weather data from related datasets.
• Benchmark plug load and lighting efficiency by comparing hourly Total Plug Loads (kW) and Total Lighting (kW) against occupancy schedules.
• Assess on-site renewable energy contribution by calculating the offset of PV (kW) generation against Total Building (kW) consumption.
• Analyze data center energy intensity by examining the hourly Total Data Center (kW) load as a component of Total Mechanical (kW).
• Calculate building net energy performance using the Building Net (kW) metric to evaluate overall efficiency over the 2011 period.

Strengths

• Data originates from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a leading authority in renewable energy and efficiency research.
• Contains nine specific, clearly defined hourly energy consumption and generation variables for a single, well-instrumented building.
• Focuses on a full calendar year (2011), providing seasonal variation in energy use patterns.
• Released under a permissive CC-BY license, allowing for flexible reuse and analysis.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to a single building (the NREL RSF) in Colorado, limiting generalizability to other building types or climates.
• Data is from 2011 and may not reflect current building performance, technologies, or efficiency standards.
• No row count, column details, or sample data are provided, making initial assessment of data structure and completeness difficult.

Provenance

Source

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Department of Energy.

Collection Method

Measured hourly data from hundreds of controllers and sensors within the Research Support Facility building systems.

Time Range

2011

Freshness

Data covers 2011; metadata was last updated in April 2022.

Geography

Research Support Facility, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, USA.