About the Living Lab
Who we are
The Living Lab is run by Energy Systems Catapult — an independent, not-for-profit organisation set up by the UK government to help speed up the UK’s move to cleaner energy. It’s a network of real homes where households try new energy ideas so we can understand what works in practice.
The UK needs to cut carbon emissions from how we heat and power our homes to meet Net Zero targets. But this change has to be fair and affordable for everyone — and that’s where our work comes in. We act as a neutral partner that brings households, energy companies, researchers and government together to test new ideas openly and fairly.
We’re funded through a mix of UK government programmes and competitive innovation grants. We don’t work for any one company, and we’re not here to sell products — our role is to make sure new energy ideas are tested independently and in a way people can trust.
What we do
In the Living Lab, we trial new energy products, services, and policies, to ensure that they work for real people in real homes.
We also study how homes use energy and heating, and how that is changing as more people adopt new green technologies like solar panels and electric vehicles (EVs) or electric heating. This helps us identify opportunities to make homes more comfortable and energy efficient.
We work with everybody in the energy industry from social enterprises, local authorities and not-for-profit organisations, all the way up to energy companies, networks and commercial businesses, the UK government, and Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator.
We want to make it simple for everyone to live in warm, carbon-free homes. Joining the Living Lab means you’ll help us get there.
"Being a member of the Living Lab gives you the opportunity to try things, make a difference and be part of something bigger."
Christopher
Living Labber
The kind of things you might do
Trial greener, more efficient ways of heating your home or charging your car.
Test new products that could make your home more energy efficient.
Take part in interviews and surveys about how you use energy in your home.
Share your energy-meter data so we can model and test fairer, more accurate ways of paying for energy.
What happens when you join?
Sign up to the Lab
It only takes a minute. We’ll ask for information like your name and contact details.
Tell us about yourself
We’ll then ask you to complete some questions about you, your home, and how you use energy. This helps us work out which trials or surveys would suit you. For example, one trial might need homes with gas boilers, another might need people with electric cars.
If you have a smart meter, we will ask you if you’d be willing to share your data with us. This helps us understand how energy demand in the UK is changing. You don’t have to share this, but if you do, you will be eligible for more trials.
Here’s what data we ask for and how we look after it.
We’ll send you details of our offers
We’ll let you know when we have new research or trial offers that would suit you. These could involve trialling new technology in your home, or simply filling out a survey.
Each offer will explain what you’d need to do, and what you’d get in return. You can decide whether you’d like to take part.
We’ll also send you a monthly newsletter keeping you updated about the work we’re doing. These often have opportunities to enter prize draws. You can opt out if you don’t want to receive these.
Tell us if you’re interested
Our research might involve taking part in surveys, interviews, or installing new technology in your home. That could be something large, like a new heating system, or a simple app on your phone.
You don’t have to be a technical whizz. We’ll help you set things up, and provide support throughout. You may be able to keep new technologies at the end of the trial, but if you can’t, or you’d rather not, we’ll remove them and replace it with something that works for you.
And in exchange, we’ll send you payment in the form of vouchers which you can use in a wide range of online and high street stores.
Join the Living Lab today!
It only takes a few minutes. Help us make energy cleaner, simpler, and more affordable for everyone!
Need some help? Contact the Living Lab team