Interrelated Patterns of Electricity, Gas, and Water Consumption in Large-Scale Buildings
As cities keep growing worldwide, so does the demand for key resources such as energy (electricity and gas) and water that residents consume. Meeting the demand for these resources can be challenging and requires an understanding of their consumptions patterns. In this work, we apply XGBoost (Extreme Gradient Boosting) to predict and analyze water and energy consumption in large-scale buildings in New York City. For this, the New York City’s local law 84 extensive dataset was merged with the Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO) dataset as well as with other socio-economic databases. Specifically, we developed three models: electricity, gas, and water consumption. Seven major lessons were learnt in terms of interrelationships between electricity, gas, and water consumption. In particular, water and gas consumption are highly interrelated with one another (often because gas is used for water heating). Furthermore, electricity consumption is affected by building type, and electricity and water consumption are particularly interrelated in nonresidential buildings. Overall, the knowledge gained from the models and from the SHAP analysis can help planners, engineers, and policymakers develop more effective strategies and help them manage the demand for energy and water in large-scale buildings.