Do you have a Heat Pump and a Smart Meter? Would you like to take part in a research project to help ensure electricity networks are able to meet our increased demand for electricity over the coming years? Then we'd love to hear from you!

We're looking for people to take part in a project - Neighbourhood Green – to help us understand how moving over to electric heating and charging electric vehicles at home is likely to affect electricity networks in the future, so we can design them to cope with this increase in demand.  

To take part in the trial you need to have a heat-pump and be willing to share your electricity meter data with us so we can understand how much energy you are using to heat your home (don’t worry, we’ll help you do this!). We will also ask you about other low carbon technologies you have in your home - including EV chargers, solar panels and storage batteries, and may offer to conduct a survey of your home to provide you with an Energy Performance Certificate if you haven’t had one done recently.

Payment: £50-£130 and the option of a free EPC survey. 

Please Register your interest by Monday 1st August


Who are we?
The Living Lab is a network of volunteers from all around the UK, who help us understand how energy is used in real-life settings, i.e. their homes! It is run by Energy Systems Catapult, a not-for-profit organisation set up to transform the UK energy system to help us to meet our country's net zero targets.

Find out more about Living Lab here: https://www.livinglab.energy/home

Find out more about Energy Systems Catapult here: https://es.catapult.org.uk/about/ 

Why are we running this trial? 

In order to reduce our carbon emissions, more and more people will begin using low carbon technologies in their homes, switching from using fossil fuels to using more electricity. This will increase the demand for electricity on current networks, and it’s important to make plans now for how they're going to meet this increase in demand. This includes not only generating more clean electricity, but making sure the networks are able to deliver it reliably to homes across the country. 

UK Power Networks (UKPN) is a national organisation that delivers electricity to our homes. We’re working with them and the network research organisation PNDC to understand more about how we’re likely to be using energy in our homes in the future to help them prepare and manage their electricity networks better. We’ll do this by looking at the way people are already using low carbon technologies such as heat-pumps, EV chargers, solar PV and batteries. We will also ask you what you think about alternative ways that you could use energy in the future which could help reduce the pressures on the electricity grid in order to ensure we all have access to affordable electricity when we need it.  

What’s in it for me? 

  • The option of a free Energy Performance Certificate (if you don’t already have one) 
  • Payment for taking part in the trial and research activities  
  • You’ll be helping to inform the design and development of electricity networks to ensure they are able to reliably deliver the electricity we need in the future 
What will it involve? 

To take part in the trial, you will need to enable us to read your smart meter data – we will support you in this! 

We would also like to understand the current energy efficiency of your home, so if you haven’t had one recently, we’ll offer you the chance to have an Energy Performance Certificate home survey done, free of charge. Find out more about this here.

Everyone will be asked to complete 2 online questionnaires over the course of the trial – one towards the beginning and one towards the end. These will help us find out more about the technologies in your home, how you use them and your views on different ways we might use and pay for our energy in the future.  

We will also invite some participants to take part in interviews and focus groups during the trial – you will receive extra gift-pay vouchers to thank you for your time if you participate in these research activities.  

The trial will run from September 2022 until approx. June 2023 

You will receive a £50 gift-pay voucher for taking part in the trial and completing the surveys. 

You will also receive an additional £30-£80 gift-pay voucher if you take part in interviews and/or focus groups. 

To register your interest to take part – please click the link below to complete a brief survey.
If you’d like more information before registering your interest in this trial – including to discuss with us any additional support you may need to participate - please contact us at [email protected]. We’d be happy to answer questions via email, or arrange to speak to you over the phone/online. 

Many thanks, 

The Living Lab team.
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If you have any queries about this email, email [email protected].

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