Energy Efficient Cities initiative

About us

The Energy Efficient Cities initiative [EECi] is a cross-disciplinary research project at the University of Cambridge. The EECi aims to strengthen the UK’s capacity to address energy demand reduction and environmental impact in cities, by research in building and transport technologies, district power systems, and urban planning. EECi began in 2007 under the three broad themes of City Planning and Design; Built Environment and Energy Systems; and Transport and Environment.

What we do

Our current research focuses on modelling energy consumption of large sets of buildings at multiple time and spatial resolution. These have resulted in two parallel investigations: one on using multi-scale multidisciplinary models in response to relevant questions pertaining to energy use in the built environment, and second, how to quantify uncertainties in model outcomes.

We also investigate novel interactions with associated energy systems in cities outside traditional applications. Our current projects include: integration of food production in the urban environment, analysis of underground transport systems as energy sources, large-scale integration of ground source heat pumps and distributed energy networks.

To find out more about us, see the links below and on our Projects page.

Featured projects

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Subsurface environments

Improving the effective and equitable use of the shallow subsurface as a thermal resource by combining data and modelling.

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Spatial microsimulation of LPG use

Energy Planning

Exploring the use of data science tools to improve understanding and modelling of urban energy use.

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Urban agriculture

Understanding and modelling the impact of plants on the built environment including greenhouses and building-integrated agriculture

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Stochastic energy models

Using monitored energy data to understand and model energy demand across diverse spatial and temporal scales

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