Decarbonising energy is critical to reducing carbon emissions in the South of Scotland as homes and workplaces account for around a fifth of total greenhouse gas emissions. Energy bills are rising fast and are set to rise further — collective, co-ordinated and sustained effort is needed to address these challenges. 

South of Scotland Enterprise wants to take action to improve information flow between individuals, communities and businesses and stimulate the supply chain.  Key to this will be providing a technology solution which allows communities to understand their energy demands and options for energy efficiency / decarbonisation while supporting community collective purchase.

So, how can technology help communities and households understand their energy needs and work with local suppliers towards sustainable energy solutions?

The Solution

ZUoS builds a profile of your existing energy needs, and simulates the energy, cost and carbon if your household energy is reduced (e.g. retrofit measures), changes (e.g. installing a heat pump), or increases (e.g. charging an electric vehicle), to allow you to make the right choices for your home.

The Opportunity

99% of buildings in Scotland are not yet ready for 2045 net zero commitments - and everyone is looking for ways to heat and power our homes affordably. ZUoS helps people navigate the complex building and energy requirements and connect into local supply chains to install sustainable energy solutions.

Next Steps

The better the datasets, the more accurate the recommendations. Next steps include data collection from users, home surveys, and building archetypes. At the same time, growing market demand and government incentives will support the growth of supply chains to install the right solutions identified by ZUoS software.

The Team

The ZUoS team combines skills from the built environment (Alex Schlicke), electrical engineering (Jim O'Donnell) and software development (Tom Carrick and Howard Cox) to provide a technically robust recommendations engine for everybody to be able to make informed decisions.