Help shape Australia’s energy future
Do you want to see how you could save with personalised energy insights?
- Free to join
- Open to homeowners and renters
- Your personal information is kept safe by CSIRO
We are helping to transform the energy system to better suit Australians. By learning how real people want to use energy, we help governments and industry to develop energy infrastructure and products that work for you.
If you share your energy use information with us, we can provide personalised insights about how you could save.
Register your interest with the form below. We will email you with more information and next steps.
About the Living Lab
The Living Lab is part of CSIRO’s National Energy Analysis Centre, providing information to policy makers and industry about what works best for Australian households. With your help, we can answer questions like:
- what sort of energy use incentives do Aussies appreciate?
- What sort of energy-saving devices work well in the home?
- How can the energy transition work for everyone, not just people who can afford a solar and battery system?
So we want to hear from you. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a homeowner or a renter, or whether you live in an apartment in the city or a farmhouse in rural Australia.
Your privacy is top priority. All data is anonymised.
How it works
- You register your interest by filling in the fields above
- We provide you with more information and a questionnaire.
- If you fit the criteria, we will accept you into the Living Lab
The sorts of things you might do in the Living Lab
Share your electricity / gas meter data so that we can develop a more detailed picture of how Australians use energy.
Take part in surveys and polls to help us understand what Australians prefer and what that means for our energy system.
Learn about ways to reduce your energy bills.
Trial energy saving devices or appliances.
For more information read our Participant Information Sheet.
Interested in joining as a small business? Find out more
Frequently asked questions
Open allClose allBy anonymously sharing your views and your energy data, you will help scientists, regulators and industry better understand energy use to plan for a more resilient, cleaner, cheaper and more equitable energy future.
By participating in research trials, you may help with things like:
- trialling an energy efficient product
- helping an energy provider to understand what sort of electricity pricing mechanisms work best for people like you
- describing how apartment dwellers want to access EV charging infrastructure
Registering your interest by filling in the form at the top of this page takes a minute. We provide you with more information and a questionnaire which takes about 10 minutes. Then you’re in!
Sharing your electricity data with us takes about 10 minutes. We run surveys about once a month, and there are polls and discussions that you can participate in.
If your planned move is more than a year away, please register your interest but let us know about your plans. If your planned move is less than a year away, please wait and register your interest after you move into your new place.
You can join the Living Lab and start sharing your energy data and your views without contacting your landlord, as these activities do not make any impact on your home.
If we offer to install energy monitoring devices in your home, we request that you obtain approval from your landlord. From our experience with similar projects, the landlord/real estate agents’ primary concern is the potential risk of damage to the property. To address this, CSIRO is committed to ensuring that the research does not cause any adverse effects for participants or landlords and can speak with your real estate agent to explain.
CSIRO takes the trust Australians place in our research very seriously. To ensure your privacy, the data we collect about you is de-identified and securely stored separately from your contact information against a pseudonym (e.g. Household 1, Household 2), making it impossible to trace the information back to you or your home.
Your personal information is protected by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and CSIRO will handle your personal information in accordance with this Act. CSIRO may disclose your personal information to third parties including Wattwatchers and Tether for the purposes of arranging installation of the energy and IEQ monitoring. But your data will not be logged against these details and will be stored against your unique pseudonym (e.g. Household 1) only.
Your contact details will be used to communicate with you throughout a trial and organise periodic surveys and interviews. As a Living Lab participant, we may invite you to participate in new research trials and offers relating to energy technology. These trials may be subject to a separate consent process.
Findings may be published in case studies, reports, scientific journals or presented at conferences and shared with industry and policy makers. In any publication or presentation, information will be provided in such a way that you cannot be identified. Copies of the research findings will be available upon request. For further information on how CSIRO handles your personal information and our access, correction and complaints process, please read our available on our website or by contacting us at privacy@csiro.au.