Ellen Zapata-Webborn

I am a Senior Research Fellow in Data Science and End Use Energy Demand at the UCL Energy Institute working on the Smart Energy Research Lab (SERL) project - developing a longitudinal smart meter dataset (with contextual data) for UK-based researchers.

Interests

  • Smart meter data
  • Machine learning
  • Power system operation and flexibility
  • Demand response
  • Energy consumption patterns
  • Fuel poverty

Education

  • PhD in Mathematics and Complexity Science, 2018

    University of Warwick

  • MSc in Complexity Science, 2012

    University of Warwick

  • BSc in Mathematics with Intercalated Year, 2011

    University of Warwick

Recent Publications

Residential Electricity and Gas Demand in Great Britain: Archetypal Demand Profiles and Household Explanatory Factors

Understanding household energy demand patterns is essential for effective energy system planning and policy design. Building on previous cluster analysis of common daily demand profiles, this study …
Preprint

The impact of the ‘cost of living crisis’ in Britain: energy saving actions by fuel-poor households in winter 2022/23

The Smart Energy Research Laboratory (SERL) Observatory, which collects smart meter data from nearly 13,000 British homes, has the scope to gather additional data in times of change. In early 2023 a …
Conference Proceedings (open access)

Capturing variation in daily energy demand profiles over time with cluster analysis in British homes (September 2019–August 2022)

This study investigates typical domestic energy demand profiles and their variation over time. It draws on a sample of 13,000 homes from Great Britain, applying k-means cluster analysis to smart meter …
Journal article

Winter demand falls as fuel bills rise: Understanding the energy impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on British households

In October 2022 British households entered a heating season amidst exceptionally high energy prices – squeezing household incomes and increasing fuel poverty. This study analyses electricity and gas …
Preprint Code Journal article (open access)

Self-reported energy use behaviour changed significantly during the cost-of-living crisis in winter 2022/23: insights from cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys in Great Britain

The winter of 2022/23 has seen large increases in energy prices and in the cost of living in many countries around the world, including Great Britain. Here, we report the results of two surveys, …
Journal article
See all publications

Blog Posts

Last updated on 2020-09-08

Why nuclear power will (and won't) stop climate change

I was recently interviewed by science communicator Simon Clark for his latest science video “Why nuclear power will (and won’t) stop climate change” (below). The final result is a brilliant deep dive into nuclear power, and the nuclear versus renewables decarbonisation debate.

Last updated on 2020-08-26

Bringing papers alive with video abstracts

As an early-career researcher, building up a decent publication record can feel like a real battle. By the time you’ve finished your work and written it up according to your chosen journal’s particular specifications, the last thing you might feel like doing is spending more time getting it publication-ready.

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