![](https://octoenergy-production-media.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Lucy_-Centre_for_Net_Zero_Banner_sharing_imag.width-1200.png)
Octopus Power is made up of 1000+ implausible folks engaged on stuff you’d by no means count on, all pushing exhausting in direction of a shared objective: driving the worldwide inexperienced vitality revolution. In our Highlight collection, we’ll introduce you to among the sensible folks behind the scenes.
Immediately, we’re speaking to Lucy Yu, CEO of our Centre for Internet Zero; an progressive analysis unit devoted to advancing the worldwide vitality transition to fight local weather change. With unprecedented world perception into how properties use vitality, we consider the Centre as one of many world’s largest residing labs.
Lucy, one of many Monetary Occasions’ 100 most influential BAME leaders in tech, provides an inside have a look at the Centre’s fascinating work, and the significance of knowledge and people-centred analysis in our quest for web zero.
Samsam: Inform me concerning the Centre for Internet Zero?
We’re an impression pushed analysis unit, pioneering analysis to ship a sooner, fairer and extra inexpensive vitality transition.
Lucy: These three core ideas information all of our work. Our imaginative and prescient of the longer term vitality system is one the place information, digitalisation and widespread possession of low carbon applied sciences will play a essential position.
For instance, we anticipate that the majority households could have an electrical car, warmth pump, good thermostat, residence battery or photo voltaic panels inside the subsequent decade. Our analysis will assist to grasp how we are able to combine these distributed vitality assets alongside renewable technology to make a brand new system which is each greener and cheaper for customers. All of this stuff will likely be a part of our future vitality system, so it’ll look radically completely different from the previous.
The reply to a inexperienced vitality future would possibly contain utilizing synthetic intelligence and automation, elevating new questions and alternatives that haven’t beforehand been addressed.
On a sensible stage, we conduct unbiased evaluation, construct merchandise, collaborate with lecturers and kind broader partnerships. We share our analysis publicly and wherever potential, we additionally share the information that it’s primarily based on in order that each our findings and our information can be utilized by others in service of a inexperienced future.
Samsam: What are you at present engaged on?
Lucy: We’ve just lately completed an enormous piece of analysis to simulate warmth pump adoption throughout the UK. We needed to analyze whether or not authorities set up targets may very well be met and in that case, what actions could be wanted to fulfill them. Fortunately we predict that the reply is ‘sure’! Our analysis used an strategy often called agent-based modelling which enabled us to recognise vital variations in family decision-making in our simulation.
We even have a variety of tutorial collaborations underway. We’re working with the Turing Institute and the College of Newcastle to grasp the impression extra low carbon applied sciences could have on native electrical energy networks. And we’re working with the Universities of Cologne and Maryland to have a look at the position of home flexibility in supporting resilient vitality programs.
A shot of the podcast artistic crew exhausting at work
Our ‘Mission Faraday’ goals to develop an API that generates electrical energy utilization profiles primarily based on completely different units of knowledge. You’ll be capable of configure a set of households and low carbon applied sciences, and generate completely different load profiles taking account of various climate and tariff info.
We’re additionally engaged on some ‘Future Power Profiles’ – producing detailed profiles of a number of world cities and amassing essential information regarding their native vitality transitions.
Lastly, we’ve simply launched our podcast ‘Contained in the Power Transition’, to inform the broader story of our vitality future alongside our analysis and with the assistance of our skilled company.
As all of us work in direction of a inexperienced vitality future, we have to perceive the wants of individuals, and the best way to meet them most effectively. This analysis will assist us decide what components are vital for a future vitality system.
Samsam: What units you aside from different analysis centres?
Lucy: We’re distinctive as a result of we now have entry to billions of knowledge factors via our relationship with Octopus Power, who now have workplaces in 14 international locations and 25 million clients on the Kraken platform. This implies we now have entry to an unprecedented quantity of close to real-time, anonymised information protecting households that personal low carbon applied sciences. Whereas many of those households may very well be described as early adopters, we should recognise that we’re quickly shifting out of that part and into the bulk – so what we study from immediately’s information may help us perceive the subsequent wave of vitality developments.
We have now entry to an unprecedented quantity of close to real-time information protecting households that personal low carbon tech reminiscent of electrical autos or these utilizing progressive good tariffs. I generally name it the world’s largest residing lab.
Samsam: What drew your curiosity in vitality analysis?
Lucy: I initially skilled as a scientist and studied chemistry, the place I cherished researching rising fields reminiscent of computational and quantum chemistry. I used to be notably within the methods progressive analysis may very well be utilized to create optimistic adjustments in the true world.
So, I began my working life in Authorities and labored a complete host of roles centered on tech, innovation and digitalisation. After a couple of years, I had the chance to hitch a start-up referred to as SwiftKey, growing AI-powered software program for smartphones simply as they have been starting to enter the market. It was an enormous success; we ended up growing probably the greatest promoting apps globally, and after that I labored for a number of extra research-led start-ups, in addition to an additional stint again in authorities.
In consequence I’ve all the time recognized I take pleasure in being on the interface of tech, coverage, and the true world, with all its complexity. The vitality transition will likely be pushed and accelerated by tech and impression all of our lives, so vitality analysis appeared a logical transfer to make.
Fast Hearth Spherical
What’s your favorite reminiscence from the early days of the Centre?
I really like seeing daring ventures go from concept to actuality so it was thrilling to rent the primary crew members and see the imaginative and prescient begin to come to life.
Additionally, listening to Al Gore’s assist for our work was fairly unimaginable…I feel we nonetheless have a crew GIF of his speech someplace!
What’s your favorite place on this planet?
El Retiro Park in Madrid. It’s magnificent and a complete feast for the senses – stunning and vibrant all through the seasons, with great birdsong within the background. And only a quick stroll from among the greatest artwork museums on the planet.
Any uncommon hobbies?
Haha! I don’t have a number of time for hobbies. I purchased an enormous canvas to make a tondo (a round portray) seven years in the past and nonetheless haven’t completed sketching out the design. I’m hoping to get to the paint stage by the top of the last decade! I additionally observe soccer and persons are all the time stunned once they discover out. I nonetheless keep in mind the times of the previous First Division!
Any work comforts/rituals?
I drink a LOT of espresso. I’ve usually had a minimum of three earlier than the primary assembly of the day!
A random truth I really like…
You possibly can’t photocopy banknotes (and no, I didn’t study this by attempting!).
Samsam: It appears you’ve all the time been on the chopping fringe of analysis. How did that lead you to be concerned with Centre for Internet Zero?
Lucy: Greg contacted me with a cryptic message about searching for somebody to construct a brand new Octopus analysis centre. I knew of Octopus due to their sturdy repute for innovation and sustainability in tech and vitality – so it instantly appeared prefer it may very well be an excellent match. I knew that a number of industries the place I had prior expertise – reminiscent of transport and telecoms – would begin converging with the vitality sector as all of us work to fight local weather change, so I used to be excited to doubtlessly be on the forefront of this.
Samsam: What’s it been like working with the whole Centre for Internet Zero crew?
Lucy: Constructing the Centre and the crew has been one of the absorbing and difficult challenges I’ve taken on – I constructed the whole organisation remotely from scratch, on the peak of the pandemic when even getting a pint of milk wasn’t simple! It was a brand new expertise for us all and we’ve had among the regular start-up highway bumps alongside the best way however fortunately we’ve settled into some sturdy methods of working collectively. We’re a small and agile crew and work carefully collectively on initiatives. We’re working with leading edge tech and information so an vital aspect to our work is creativity and collaboration.
The wonderful Centre for Internet Zero Crew
Past our core crew, we’re additionally aiming to construct a wider group, by connecting with leaders within the tech, vitality and local weather house as we’re all working collectively in direction of a shared objective.
Lucy: We foster this sense of group via our podcast the place we focus on the realities of a simply and inexperienced vitality revolution. We have now additionally began a collection of skilled talks referred to as the ‘En_Tech_Talks’, the place we convey collectively among the main innovators within the tech, vitality and local weather areas.
A picture of the Centre’s very first ‘En_Tech_Talks’.
Samsam: How a lot of your analysis is concentrated on a simply transition and the way do you assume this can play out in the true world?
Lucy: In all of our analysis we attempt to keep away from utilizing common values, as a result of they will unhelpfully obscure all of the variation that exists in the true world. So one of many improvements in our analysis is figuring out the distributional impacts of various potential insurance policies or choices.
One of many issues I’m personally excited about is whether or not using expertise may assist some locations to hurry up their very own vitality transition, by skipping among the messy intermediate phases related to legacy infrastructure. The web is an efficient analogy: some components of the worldwide south have been in a position to skip the desktop part, and go straight to cell. So, these international locations have been forward of extra developed international locations when it got here to issues like cell finance – and there may very well be some equivalences right here in vitality.
Samsam: The place do you envision the Centre in 5 years time?
Lucy: I feel we’re simply beginning to scratch the floor of the house we function in. In 5 years I’d like to have broadened our exterior collaborations, have a clutch of landmark research beneath our belt, and a few tech merchandise – beginning with our Mission Faraday – being utilized in extraordinary methods to decarbonise the planet.
If we are able to turn out to be the primary place that local weather and vitality ministers and policymakers flip once they have a query they want answering, then we’ve cracked it.
Samsam: What’s the one factor you want everybody knew concerning the journey to Internet Zero?
Lucy: After I purchased my (very previous) residence a clever individual mentioned to me that you simply by no means actually personal a interval property, you simply take care of it for the subsequent technology. If all of us understood that we’re custodians of our planet in the identical manner then a lot of our conversations about web zero wouldn’t get mired in arguments about science, duties, and financing…however then perhaps we wouldn’t be on this disaster within the first place!
Need to maintain within the loop concerning the Centre for Internet Zero?