EnergySync: Enabling Smart Living for all with Intelligent Home Energy Optimisation and Touchpoint Control per Room

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Approximately 20% of the UK's total carbon emissions come from homes, mainly through heating, lighting and household appliances. Driven by the UK Government's Heat and Building strategy 2021 there is a shift towards low-carbon electrical heat sources, i.e.heat pumps, electric radiators and underfloor heating to meet net zero 2050 targets. Efficient home and grid infrastructure are crucial to meet increasing demand.Additionally, homes are often outdated in energy consumption, with occupant habits contributing to a predicted 47% increase in electrical demand \[Statista-UK-Energy-Demand-2023\] despite a 300% increase in energy costs over the past 3 years. Electronic inefficiencies and user behaviour can waste up to 23% of household energy \[British-Gas-2022\].Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) play a vital role in mitigating this waste through understanding and controlling how much energy is used. They are critical components in smart homes and grids with a projected 31% annual growth over the next 5 years (Delta-EE Connected Home Country Report-2020) as consumers shift towards electrical heat sources.However, current HEMS solutions are traditionally power intensive and require complete rewiring for installation. Other solutions, "bolt-on" to the home infrastructure, instead of being integrated, and therefore don't provide the high level of control to maximise energy efficiency.Tewke aims to make HEMS accessible and affordable for everyone through their innovative TAP-Switch, enabling all occupants to benefit from the energy savings generated.The TAP-Switch transforms every light switch into Smart switch with an embedded touch screen, allowing users to monitor and control the electrical usage of devices at room level. It can be easily and quickly installed into any home's existing wiring infrastructure.This project will develop an intelligent software system that will transform the TAP-Switch into an accessible and affordable HEMS. The software will use data from the TAP-Switch and public sources to create a live house heat map, offering occupants insights and actionable recommendations to reduce heat loss in specific rooms, i.e. insulation, glazing, lower thermostats.Tewke's HEMS has the capability to control the entire energy usage within a household and can be installed into any home. If implemented nationwide, it has the potential to save 4.7Mt of CO2 annually.