Phil Grunewald

Dr. Phil Grunewald is a Supernumerary Research Fellow at Oriel College and Research Director of the Energy Demand Observatory and Laboratory (EDOL) at the University of Oxford's Department of Engineering Science. He also serves as Oxford Principal Investigator for the JED-AI project. Previously, he led the Oxford Energy Network and the Flexibility theme at the Environmental Change Institute (2013-2020).

Education

PhD from Imperial College London on grid storage economics, supported by a UKERC scholarship.

Research Focus

Grunewald employs interdisciplinary approaches to analyze energy demand flexibility using smart meter data, machine learning, and socio-technical variables. Core research themes include:

• Low-carbon energy transitions
• Demand response and system flexibility
• Machine learning applications for household energy clustering
• Longitudinal analysis of crisis impacts on consumption
• Equity in energy system redesign

Publications

Recent articles (2019-2024) demonstrate strong focus on: 1) Data-driven household energy pattern analysis using machine learning, 2) Crisis resilience and emissions impacts of demand flexibility, 3) Socio-technical barriers to energy transitions, and 4) Methodological innovations in activity-based energy modeling. Recurring themes include temporal consumption variability, policy equity, and decarbonization trade-offs.

Awards

• EPSRC Fellowship (2015-2021)
• Marie Curie Fellowship
• Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE)

Projects & Grants

Principal Investigator for:

• EDOL (EPSRC): Longitudinal household energy-observatory
• ReNEW (Oxford Martin): Energy equity and wellbeing
• Shift-0 (MCS Foundation): Heat-pump adoption impacts
• METER study: Machine learning analysis of UK household diaries/meter data

Teams & Infrastructure

Leads energy demand research group developing specialized tools for activity recording and meter data analysis. Maintains UK Household Energy Use database.