As the cost of living crisis sweeps the UK, UrbanTide is exploring how we can use data and AI technology to tackle fuel poverty. 

UrbanTide has published a new report - No Home Left Cold - that explores how we can use the power of Data and AI to help make some of the most vulnerable homes in the UK warmer, more comfortable and carbon efficient.

uEco is an innovative data technology project that uses data and machine learning to speed up the delivery of home retrofit solutions. 

The project has been developed and delivered by UrbanTide and Friendhood with funding from the Innovate UK Design Foundations programme.

By making this new technology available throughout the UK, the report looks at how we can accelerate the transition to becoming an energy-efficient nation. The goal of the uEco project is two-fold: lessen the impact of fuel poverty for more than 8 million UK households and reduce household CO2 emissions.

Retrofitting the leakiest homes in Europe

The UK has some of the leakiest homes in Europe. Household energy is responsible for a fifth of all global CO2 emissions, and 26% of total emissions in the UK. 

To reach net-zero targets by 2050, the government has put forward an ambitious but critical plan to retrofit the UK’s 29 million housing stock in under three decades. But right now, the project is way behind target.  

UrbanTide has been awarded £2 million through Innovate UK’s Design Foundations competition to develop uEco as a solution to accelerating the UK’s housing retrofit ambitions. 

The funding was awarded to businesses capable of delivering a new technology innovation that aligns closely with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. As a product that’s both people and planet-centric by design, uEco responds directly to as many as 11 of the 17 SDGs.

How uEco works 

uEco builds on UrbanTide’s uZero product, which uses data and AI to identify and target energy-efficiency support to fuel-poor households. By integrating anonymised real-time smart meter system data with cross-sector datasets, uZero helps target solutions that save energy and reduce household CO2. 

uEco builds on the uZero product by linking up new additional datasets specifically to help speed up the delivery of retrofit solutions.

We are currently working closely with Friendhood Studio on the development stage of the product. This involves running workshops with local authorities and their delivery partners to identify which new data sources would help them identify and target retrofit solutions as efficiently as possible. For example, adding high-resolution thermal data to the platform would allow us to create thermal imaging of individual buildings. This would allow uEco users to easily identify energy losses from space.

The Friendhood team are experts in delivering strategic design and development. The workshops they’re currently running with local authorities will help us establish where the real-value datasets lie and how we can integrate them into the platform.

Alex Reece, Founder of Friendhood Studio has said:

"As a studio focused on impactful design for social and planetary good, we’re excited to work with UrbanTide on the uEco project.

We’ll be leading engagement, bringing together a variety of teams across the energy sector to find opportunities for AI and data insight to create positive impact in a challenging and evolving landscape. Using this insight, we’ll be developing what a planet-centred design approach looks like alongside supporting with digital design on new products."

No Home Left Cold responds directly to 11 of the 17 SDGs as its both people and planet-centric by design.

Read the full report on how to tackle the growing fuel poverty crisis and support the Just Transition to net zero.