What I Am Doing Lately: EDOL and Energy Research

Leading the development of EDOL (Energy Demand Observatory and Laboratory) to understand home energy use patterns

I wanted to share a bit about what keeps me busy these days. I’m leading the development of a project called EDOL (Energy Demand Observatory and Laboratory)¹, which builds on our previous work with SERL². At its heart, it’s about understanding how we all use energy in our homes, something that’s become increasingly important as we navigate climate change.

We work with wonderful participants who’ve agreed to share their smart meter³ readings and experiences with us. It’s incredible – we’ve collected over a billion readings already, giving us insights into real-world energy use patterns that we can share with interested energy researchers. Each data point tells a story about how families heat their homes, or how they adapt to changing weather.

What makes me particularly excited is our next step - working with some households to install additional sensors, from simple temperature monitors to more detailed systems that track heat pump performance. It’s all voluntary, and the privacy of our participants always comes first.

References

1.

Energy Demand Observatory and Laboratory (EDOL). (UCL Energy Institute) (Research project for understanding residential energy use patterns).

2.

Smart Energy Research Lab (SERL). (UCL Energy Institute) (Previous energy research project that EDOL builds upon).

3.

Smart meters. (Advanced electricity or gas meters that record consumption in real-time and communicate with the energy supplier or third parties, with consent).