Digital technologies are tough to visualise. We might see their infrastructure – cables or microchips - but it’s difficult to imagine their inner workings. Most visualisations are either highly technical diagrams not intended for public understanding or futuristic images designed to awe. 

Smart energy innovations are good examples of emerging technologies that are difficult to describe or imagine. While diagrams do exist, their functional nature overlooks many aspects of energy futures that are fascinating and thought provoking: energy trading, shifting energy demand or ensuring security of smart devices, to name but a few. This gap restricts the lay users’ ability to contribute to the debate.  As a result, we risk that future energy systems  will be designed without an opportunity for meaningful public participation. 

Below you can see the results of a unique collaboration: an illustrator (Oliver Dean), a science communicator (Dr Emma Osborne), a computer scientist (Dr Ruzanna Chitchyan – Co-Investigator) and a social scientist (Dr Ola Michalec – Principal Investigator) worked iteratively over nine themes related to smart energy futures. They also sought feedback from the partners at Ofgem, Energy Systems Catapult and Bristol City Council.  

The project facilitates two modes of public engagement: first, an explanation of complex ideas across engineering, computer sciences and social sciences; second, an instigation of a public debate.  The innovations visualised in the project are still ‘work in progress’. How and by whom they’re embedded in the political context will influence whether digital futures can also be democratic, affordable, and inclusive. 

Please click on the themes below to view the artwork:

Bristol 2030

Old Grid/New Grid

Flexibility

Peer to Peer trading

Get a Smart Meter

Security and data sharing platforms: get on the right track!

Heat pumps: the future of home heating

Sharing energy data: Siloed Ecosystem Vs Common Good

When the future meets the past: can safety and security coexist in modern critical infrastructure?

Using the artwork

You can use the images in any format including website, reports, presentations, social media. Happy sharing! 

Please do credit the work: tag Oliver Dean Twitter and Instagram with the handle @_oliverdean. In presentations or publications, the credit should be added as a caption below the image and in the reference list as follows: “[image title] 2022. Illustration by Oliver Dean. For projects 'SMART LENS', 'NEW GRID AND I' led by Dr Ola Michalec and Dr Ruzanna Chitchyan. Funded by the Bristol Digital Futures Institute and the University of Bristol Impact Accelerator Account”

Please seek permission from the project team to edit the artwork or cut out parts of illustrations. 

Please contact ola.michalec@bristol.ac.uk if you have any questions of feedback regarding the project! Feel free to email us if you’d like to receive high-resolution files or a single image of a postcard or a workshop card.