Monday, 23 June 2025
A new partnership between the University of Nottingham’s City as Lab – a research-led lab connecting digital research with businesses, policymakers and communities in Nottingham – and energy company E.ON, is bringing the fight against fuel poverty into the digital age, with a futuristic model of Nottingham aimed at making energy fairer for all.
The collaboration aims to use the university department's innovative 3D map of Nottingham to identify the households most affected by fuel poverty and allow partners to work together on developing solutions for greener, cleaner, and more affordable energy.
By feeding E.ON’s PropSol data into this living digital twin, the partnership aims to simulate, test and design new energy solutions that deliver impact where it’s needed most: cold homes, under-served communities, and households struggling to keep the lights on.
City as Lab is transforming Nottingham into a hub of date-driven innovation using award-winning mapping tools to tackle real-world challenges. At its heart is the Projection Augmented Relief Model (PARM) – a 6.2 metre-squared 3D representation of Nottingham. This state-of-the-art model draws on rich data sources – from census records and historical architecture to geographic features – to create a strikingly lifelike version of the city. Developed by Gary Priestnall, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Nottingham, PARM won the 2024 British Cartographic Society Award for map of the year.
When people see the model, the say ‘wow’ – but it’s what we can do with it that’s really exciting. With E.ON on board, we’re now exploring energy challenges in ways we simply couldn’t before. This is about co-creating solutions that make life better.”
Across Nottingham 40 per cent of children are classed as living in poverty, and the city has been named as the poorest place in the UK based on gross disposable household income. E.ON’s collaboration aims to tackle some of these disparities in the area, helping families to stay warmer – for less – and making a significant impact in local communities.
Fiona Humphrey’s Chief Digital Officer at E.ON UK, said: “Fuel poverty isn’t just about statistics, it translates to cold homes, difficult choices, and communities left behind. With City as Lab, we can now test ideas, predict problems, and design smarter solutions before implementing them in the real world. The partnership allows us to feed our real-world data into this intelligent system, enhancing its capability to pinpoint regions and individuals most in need of support – promoting smarter, more efficient, and sustainable energy solutions.”
E.ON is the latest organisation to join the project, bringing a focus on fuel poverty, one of the UK’s most pressing challenges. E.ON’s data pinpoints the city areas most affected by fuel poverty – using Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and household income data – and identifies commercial buildings suitable for solar panels that can sustainably power homes suffering the most, via community sharing.
The partnership is already exploring smart energy-sharing systems, more efficient upgrade strategies using E.ON’s Propsol tool, and accessible solar planning via Kuppa – turning data into action, and models into meaningful change.
This project serves as a blueprint for a fairer, greener energy system that any city in the UK can replicate.
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More information is available from Professor Paul Grainge, Academic Director of City as Lab, via paul.grainge@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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