Predicting Energy Efficiency across all Welsh Homes

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Post by Joseph HC, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Information on the energy efficiency of homes across Wales is helpful for policy makers as evidence for fuel poverty, energy strategy and green initiative policies. In the Data Science Unit, we have been working on a project to build a stronger evidence base for the energy efficiency of Welsh homes.

The most up-to-date source of information available on the energy efficiency of homes is the Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) Register. The Register, however, only covers half of all homes in Wales and is overrepresented by newer, more energy efficient homes. This is because legislation was introduced in 2008 that made EPC surveys a mandatory requirement when selling or renting a property.

This blog describes how we have been using the register of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) to build a dataset that covers every residential property in Wales. This work builds on a project undertaken by the Office for National Statistics’ Data Science Campus: Using machine learning to predict energy efficiency | Data Science Campus.

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Guest Blog: Unpacking the Welsh Economy: Reflections on the Compilation of the Input-Output Tables for Wales

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Post by Professor Calvin Jones, Academic Advisor, Knowledge and Analytical Services, Welsh Government

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Introduction

In 2022 Welsh Government began the process of compiling and publishing a set of Supply and Use (SUTs) and Input-Output Tables (IOTs) for Wales. These were to be the first holistic picture of the Welsh economy produced following Scotland (which has published SUTs and IOTs for decades) and Northern Ireland (which has done so for the post EU exit period).

The publication was intended to improve our understanding – inside and outside Welsh Government – of how the Welsh economy ‘worked’ in terms of production, trade and product use. More importantly, it was to determine whether collating such a picture – consistently, across all products, industries and users – was feasible, whilst guaranteeing a reasonable level of quality and robustness. The project delivered an Input-Output publication for Wales (for base-year 2019), detailing the structures and activities of 55 industries in Wales, along with related product use and supply. The Supply and Use and Input-Output Tables (hereafter called IOTs for simplicity) have been published as official statistics in development, together with an extensive methodology document.

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How Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help make online content easier to read

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Post by Joe, Data Science Unit, Welsh Government

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The Data Science Unit has recently been exploring potential uses of Generative AI. One project has developed a proof-of-concept tool that uses Generative AI to assist in editing text content. The aim of the tool was to:

  • support content designers in the Welsh Government by providing them a better draft to work from; and,
  • help everyone produce better content (we do not have enough content designers for all our content!)

The tool could save the content designers time, focus their skills on the more challenging problems and improve our written content.

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Navigating the way to publishing open data

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Post by Rhiannon, Data and geography, Welsh Government

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Whilst we have been rather quiet on open data in recent years, it has remained firmly on our radar. During the Covid pandemic making data openly available was paramount to providing the people of Wales with the information they needed on the issues being faced and decisions being made.  

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Technology to help people use more Cymraeg

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Post by Indeg, Cymraeg 2050 Team, Welsh Government

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“We’ll do everything we can to make it easier to use Cymraeg in technology, and we’ll use all the possibilities that technology offers to help us use Cymraeg.”

Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh language.

On 07 January 2025, Mark Drakeford, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language, published a written statement outlining 3 new priorities for our work in Welsh language technology:

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AI and the Welsh language

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Post by Indeg, Cymraeg 2050 Team, Welsh Government

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

When we published the Welsh language technology action Plan in 2018, our aim was to create technological advances that would enable us to use more Welsh in a wide range of situations. In February 2024, the then Minister for Education and Welsh Language published the final report on this Plan, looking back at our progress, including advancements in AI.

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