A lifestyle usage pattern is a typical household routine, such as Work from Home or Evening Heavy, that Aurora uses to shape a customer's estimated energy usage across the day and the year. Choose the pattern that best describes the household when you enter a monthly or annual estimate of the customer's usage.
In this article:
- Where to choose a usage pattern
- How a pattern changes the estimate
- Available lifestyle patterns
- Appliances and lifestyle patterns
- Data sources
- Key considerations
- Related articles
Where to choose a usage pattern
Choose a pattern in the Usage pattern dropdown, on the project's Energy usage page or on the Energy usage tab of Project details in Sales Mode. The dropdown has two groups: Location based, which lists nearby weather stations, and Lifestyle based, which lists the patterns available for the project's location.
- Usage pattern appears only when Input method is Monthly estimate (1-12 months) or Annual energy estimate. Aurora hides it for Monthly average and Interval data.
- Where no lifestyle patterns are available, the dropdown's label is Location, and it lists only weather stations.
- New California projects start with Summer Cooling selected. In locations without lifestyle patterns, Aurora selects the nearest weather station.
- In Sales Mode, click Save profile after you change the pattern. The estimate updates when you save.
How a pattern changes the estimate
The months you enter stay as you entered them. Aurora uses the pattern to estimate the rest: the months you didn't enter, the annual total, and how usage spreads across each day.
For example, on a Fresno, California project with only January entered at 900 kWh, the nearest weather station estimated about 12,763 kWh a year, with July the highest month. Summer Cooling estimated about 12,825 kWh, with August the highest, and Winter Heating estimated about 7,778 kWh, with its highest usage in winter.
Patterns also change the shape of each day. On a summer day, Morning Heavy peaks around 9 am and Evening Heavy around 8 pm. To see the shape, choose a day view such as Summer day next to Today's energy usage. For more about day views, see Consumption profiles: how Aurora models hourly usage
Available lifestyle patterns
Aurora offers these lifestyle patterns for projects in California, Germany, Spain, France, and Great Britain.
| Location | Lifestyle patterns |
|---|---|
| California | Summer Cooling; Work from Home; Stay at Home; Evening Heavy; Winter Heating; Morning Heavy |
| Germany | Deutschland: HTW Berlin Profil 31; Deutschland: hauptsächlich morgens; Deutschland: morgens, mittags, abends (mahlzeiten); Deutschland: homeoffice; Deutschland: ganztägig; Deutschland: hauptsächlich abends; Deutschland: nur abends |
| Spain | Each name starts with “España:” — Uso nocturno con calefacción; Uso diurno con calefacción; Uso diurno y nocturno con calefacción; Uso durante todo el día con calefacción por la mañana; Uso en la madrugada con aire acondicionado (A/A); Uso diurno y en la madrugada con aire acondicionado (A/A); Uso durante todo el día con aire acondicionado (A/A); Uso de madrugada; Uso nocturno; Uso diurno; Uso diurno y nocturno; Uso diurno y nocturno con aire acondicionado (A/A) y calefacción |
| France | Usage régulier; Usage matinal; Usage en début d'après-midi; Usage élevé du chauffage en hiver; Usage élevé à midi |
| Great Britain | UK MCS: Home all day; UK MCS: In half the day; UK MCS: Out during the day |
To choose a Great Britain pattern for an MCS estimate, see MCS (UK only).
Appliances and lifestyle patterns
Lifestyle patterns already account for lighting, heating, hot water, and air conditioning, so with a pattern selected, you can add only an electric vehicle or a pool. For details, see Editing appliances in a project's load profile
Data sources
Aurora's lifestyle patterns are typical load shapes built from larger datasets:
- California: measured residential load profiles.
- Germany: modeled load profiles for residential buildings in Germany, from Büttner et al. (2022).
- Spain: GoiEner smart meter data from Spanish households, from Quesada et al. (2024).
- France: Enedis regional aggregate profiles.
Key considerations
- The Location based list can include weather stations far from the project, sometimes in another country. Check the station names before you choose one.
- Changing the pattern changes the estimated months, so it also changes the customer's estimated bill.
- Usage pattern doesn't apply to interval data. If interval data covers only part of the year, Aurora fills the missing hours from the location's typical profile. See Adding interval data to a project.