Fellow Spotlight: Alvin Chan

FELLOWS

14 Nov

Thanks for joining me for this Fellow Spotlight, Alvin, can you please introduce yourself and tell me a bit about your fellowship project?

I am working with Subak on a project called Cut My Energy Bill. The background behind this is that in the UK there's a real energy crisis going on and energy and fuel bills are spiralling out of control.

A lot of people ask what they can do in terms of investing in the right technologies to bring those bills down. I wanted to help answer that in an independent, unbiased way. So that’s why I got involved with the Subak Fellowship.

What has the journey been like that led you to this point?

I have a background in science, so I'm a physicist by trade. I did a PhD at Imperial College and then had a mixed career across consulting around renewable energy and climate change and internal corporate strategy. More recently I've been very much deep into analytics and data. So my current role is in analytics at a connected vehicle data company called Wejo based in Manchester. So lots of connected themes across energy, climate change and sustainability.

Could you talk a bit more about where the idea came from for Cut My Energy Bill?

So this really started around a year ago. Bills were looking like they’d increase, but perhaps not at the astronomical rate that they have. There's a bewildering amount of information and potential things you can go after and incorporate into your home, like heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage, electric vehicles, and innovative, smart tariffs… But I had a really straightforward question: which one's right for me? Should I install everything? Should I install just one or two things? My house didn’t have enough roof space for solar panels. So, how does that affect my price calculation? How do I make sure I do the right thing for the planet but also the right thing for my wallet? A lot of people are in the same boat in that they want to trim their energy bills but may only be staying in their house for a few years before they move to the next place. How does that factor in?

I was really struggling to find a clear, independent source to really break down that question for me in a trustworthy way. You had lots of folks who were selling systems or installing packages but there wasn’t somewhere where you could do the sums and show me that this isn’t based on just the average consumption, but on mine, and give me the confidence to move forward to the next stage and talk to those installers.

So I just wanted a clear, quick answer to go, well, based on my circumstances, what's the best option for me? How much could I save? That was the real question that sparked it all off.

There wasn't really anything that I could find. So, why not build it myself? I've got an energy modelling foundation there, and I really wanted to put that together, not just for myself, but also for other homeowners and other households who unfortunately are thinking more and more about energy costs.

With the Fellowship, it's been great having the mentoring and coaching, but also the wider support of the community in terms of new and interesting folks to talk to. Of course the deliverable is also really important, so I’m really pleased to have delivered the CutMyEnergyBill website and that web application built in and stream it as an open source initiative.

What kind of response have you had so far from the tool?

The feedback's been good so far, people are finding value in the tool. Some early users have said that it actually stops them from spending time looking at options that are wildly infeasible, either from a financial perspective or from a payback perspective.

So it’s already sparked some really interesting conversations from potentially interested users and I see this as a really positive sign that people are already getting value from it. There's always more that we can do. So some of the feedback has been that the initial version has been a little bit more technical and less user friendly, so that’s something we’re rapidly building on.

Have you learnt any lessons on the best way to engage people with switching to low-carbon technologies? What have you found is the most powerful incentive?

I found out the best way to engage people on these low-carbon technologies wasn't necessarily talking about emissions. Everyone already implicitly knows that low-carbon technologies are better for the planet. But what most people tend to want to know as well is how's this gonna affect me as a customer? How will the changes needed for net zero affect my wallet?

You’ve got to follow the money. If you can convince people about the financial benefits that hand in hand would be saving on emissions, these two things are a potent combination. Because we have a cost living crisis going on that's even more relevant and more pertinent.

What are the key challenges that you anticipate in progressing the work, and what are your plans for the rest of the Fellowship?

Some of the key things that we've seen is that people are already asking for different scenarios. They aren't typical consumers, so they don't fit into one of the buckets on the website. So we’re looking at how we can make this more granular and run more scenarios. In terms of programming, I'm seeing that people also want to understand newer products too - different storage products have different performances and different costs - so how can we expand the products we model with in an open-source and trustworthy way? Finally, we have really got our eyes on making the product more user-friendly going forward.

How have you engaged with Subak’s Data Catalogue so far?

We’re preparing to put some of the summary data around the different scenarios we’ve tested into the catalogue, in terms of the performance of electric vehicles, or solar PV. But we've also got an aspiration to publish more granular data. So one of the things that goes on behind the scenes is that we simulate for each scenario, and there's thousands of potential scenarios, combinations of products, etc. We actually produce a half hourly analysis for a whole year of how much energy is being consumed, how much energy is being produced, how much goes into batteries, and how much is being charged to electric vehicles. So we're really keen to put that on the Subak Data Catalogue as an open-source facility.

How has Subak been useful for you in the duration of your Fellowship?

I think one of the key things is that Subak has really opened me up to a wider community of like-minded folks. I've had some great conversations with people who are working on similar fields and similar projects. The coaching has been really good. Chris Briggs, my coach, has got great experience, so it's just been really great having someone who can offer ideas, feedback, and practical things around deployment. That’s really been invaluable. Generally, also having the support of marketing and PR to drive awareness of the initiative has been super useful.

What made you apply for the Subak Fellowship?

What I really liked about Subak was the openness of the data. That's something that wasn't immediately natural to me, I have to admit that. But after a bit of thought and a bit of conversation with Dan and Chris and the people involved in that selection process, it really won me over and I encourage anyone who is on the fence about it to really think long and hard. What is the point in making something non-open source, if not many people are going to be able to use it? There's a lot more value to be gained there.

It’s also working with a high calibre team, they’ve got great experience and really know what they’re doing. There’s also the financial support, but more importantly than that is that we are really aligned in terms of our mission. We want to make data open and we want to do something good for the planet, and we want to do it in an effective and non-profit way too. We don't just want to make lots of money.

How can our readers stay involved with your work and support you?

So three really simple things. Come to our website, visit the app and test it out. Use it for yourself and see what savings you get with your circumstances, share it with your family and friends. And finally reach out to me on LinkedIn. The door is always open for new conversations and new contributors. I really encourage them to reach out directly either on LinkedIn or on GitHub.

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