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.