AI project to empower households to help the drive to Net Zero

The ‘AI: Justice, Energy, Demand flexibility and AI for Sustainability’ (JED-AI) project will look at how different factors, households and communities all affect household participation in energy demand flexibility.

It will also investigate how households use Low Carbon Technologies (LCTs) and take part in demand energy flexibility services (DFS), such as shifting time of use of energy-intensive activities when renewable generation is high and energy tariffs are low. DFS help balance demand and supply in the electricity network and encourage green energy use and limit energy generation from fossil fuels.

“Can AI help build people’s capacity to benefit from more flexible forms of energy use? In this 2 year research collaboration between social scientists and data scientists, we aim to find out.”

Professor Charlie Wilson, Environmental Change Institute

Led by the University of Strathclyde, the project is among 36 breakthrough interdisciplinary projects to receive a share of UKRI £32.4M funding. The JED-AI team includes the University of Oxford and the University of East Anglia, as well as the Energy Systems Catapult and Hugo Technologies Limited.

LCTs, including solar panels, electric vehicles, heat pumps, smart energy efficient appliances and AI-driven energy management solutions, are a key part of the transition to Net Zero. The slow pace of adoption is due to difficulties in devising LCTs that integrate into day-to-day household routines and households not using the technologies as intended.

The JED-AI project will integrate AI and social science analyses to generate more just and sustainable interventions in energy demand flexibility. Researchers will also monitor and evaluate both interdisciplinary processes and energy, justice and sustainability outcomes. It is hoped it will generate new understandings of and methods for interdisciplinary working alongside insights into the development of AI for the transition to Net Zero.

Researchers in Oxford’s Engineering Science Department and the Environmental Change Institute will use large scale energy use data and contextual information, as well as in-person interviews, to understand how people adapt to more flexible energy use patterns that could become the norm in a future low-carbon world. Over the past decade Oxford has established world leading expertise in observing and understanding energy use in the home, and the role of new technologies in changing our energy use and our ability to reduce or shift demand to reduce costs and carbon.

Oxford lead for JED-AI Dr Philipp Grunewald (Department of Engineering Science) says, “We are in the early stages of some exciting changes in the way we engage with the energy system. AI can be a profound agent to support us in becoming more flexible, without having to follow the energy market price ourselves every minute. Technology can help us reduce bills and help decarbonise the system, but we also need to understand the social acceptability and potential downsides of inviting these new solutions into our homes."

Professor Lina Stankovic, University of Strathclyde, says: “Our research will investigate how to empower households, from those already having one or more LCTs, to those struggling to pay energy bills, to change how and when they use energy. A previous UK-wide DFS trial run by the National Grid showed an increasing divide in household smart energy capabilities across income, age, and home ownership groups, to adapt quickly to LCTs. While many householders benefitted from shifting their energy use to a lower tariff on short notice, people living with health conditions, those with financial stress, and smaller or larger than average households were less able to participate.” 

The JED-AI project is a result of cross-disciplinary co-creation, spanning more than a decade between the engineering team at Strathclyde and teams at the University of Oxford and University of East Anglia, including joint research and student training as part of European Commission MSCA ITN GECKO project. The project builds on Oxford’s cross-disciplinary expertise in Engineering and Social Science, specifically the iDoddle (ERC grant 101003083 ) and EDOL (UKRI grant EP/X00967X/1.

Professor Alison Park, UKRI Cross Research Council Responsive Mode champion and Deputy Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) says: “The perspectives of different disciplines, working together in collaboration, are vital to solving some of the most pressing problems we face as a society. The UKRI cross research council responsive mode scheme is designed to break down silos and champion research that transcends, combines and significantly spans traditional discipline boundaries.”