EnergyHubFutures

Warmer, energy efficient homes reduce energy bills and fuel poverty, improve health and wellbeing, help households adapt to a hotter, climate-changed future, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But top-down, technocratic policies to retrofit and build low carbon, energy efficient housing have delivered limited progress. They also risk deepening existing inequalities if the benefits are only accessible to those who can afford it. In response, grassroots initiatives have emerged, providing access to energy advice, financial and technical support, research and technology demonstrators, and spaces for community hubs to meet and collaborate.

Energy Hub Futures’ is an interdisciplinary project applying case study and participatory action research (PAR) to examine how community hubs can be developed and scaled to support a just transition to low carbon, energy-efficient homes.

The research is set in the post-industrial region of South Yorkshire that is shaped by the decline of coal and steel, and the resultant social and economic harms of unjust transitions. Through in-depth study of and collaboration with Sheffield Energy Hub, the project will deepen knowledge of how hubs function in practice and could contribute to more equitable outcomes.

Using PAR, the research brings together community organisations, local authorities, charities, private sector actors, and researchers to co-produce knowledge and action. This collaborative approach enables partners to develop practical strategies for the sustainable operation, coordination, and potential expansion of the hub model, ensuring impacts extend beyond the project’s lifetime.

The project will assess the hub model through a just transitions lens and, by focusing on Sheffield Energy Hub, provide an in-depth, place-based analysis of grassroots practice in action. This will generate evidence on how distributive, procedural, and recognition justice can be embedded in the delivery of low carbon homes.

The research is expected to contribute to net zero targets by accelerating the uptake of retrofit and low carbon heating, while reducing fuel poverty and improving residents’ health and wellbeing through warmer, healthier homes. By supporting adaptation to climate-changed futures – including risks from extreme heat, cold, flooding, and energy insecurity – the project will enhance community resilience and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.