Clever tech, greener cities, healthier living

What if you could map out the heat loss from every home in your city? Predict which neighbourhoods will benefit most from solar panels, heat pumps, or better insulation? Or identify those households struggling with the cost of living, before they ever need to ask for help?

In Coventry, we’re not just asking “what if?” – we’re doing it.

Thanks to our 15-year strategic energy partnership with Coventry City Council, we’re piloting a UK-first approach using innovative tools to help decarbonise the city from the ground up. Or, more accurately, from the data up.

At the centre of it all is Digikoo, a smart technology already used across Germany. Now, it’s making its UK debut in our hometown of Coventry. Originally developed over in Germany, Digikoo creates a ‘digital twin’ of the city – a virtual, data-driven version of its homes and businesses, transport networks, even the energy systems on which it relies for heating and power.

By layering in data from E.ON’s own PropSol tool, open source records, and socio-demographic indicators, we can visualise not just what the city looks like today but what it could look like all the way out 2049.

Smart data, smarter decisions

PropSol is a tool that crunches more than 30 million rows of data to pinpoint which homes are most vulnerable – those with poor insulation, high emissions, or families struggling with fuel poverty. It draws on everything from Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings to census data to map out need.

Then we layer in heating demand profiles, building materials, income levels – even the number of people in a household. It means local authorities can target energy upgrades where they’ll have the most impact, to both decarbonise their cities and drive down costs for households.

This isn’t innovation for innovation’s sake. It’s about using data to drive smarter and more targeted action in the real world action – lowering energy bills for those who need help the most in the most efficient way. With PropSol and Digikoo, local authorities can apply for government grants like the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund with confidence, knowing exactly where the need is greatest. That means faster upgrades. Warmer homes. Smaller bills. Happier people.

And here’s the exciting part: Coventry is just the beginning.

With more than 28 million households across the UK, the potential to grow in scale is enormous. Every city could have its own digital twin. Every local authority could make smarter energy decisions. And every family could live in a home that’s warmer, cheaper to run, and better for the planet.

So while it might look like we’re just working with data — what we’re really doing is reimagining the cities of the future - and the first step in creating communities prepared for the future.