Zhihao Zhang

Project Title

Explainable Data-Driven Life Cycle Assessment of Retrofit Pathways for Decarbonising UK Housing

Project Abstract

Decarbonising the UK's existing housing stock is essential to achieving the 2050 Net Zero target, yet key questions remain — which homes should be prioritised, where should efforts be focused, and what retrofit pathways should be applied? This PhD project develops an explainable, data-driven framework to address these questions by integrating large-scale Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) datasets with multi-source data across England, Wales, and Scotland. Spatiotemporal analysis is applied to uncover regional disparities and trends in retrofit uptake, while explainable AI techniques reveal the drivers behind emission profiles and retrofit needs across housing typologies and geographical contexts. By incorporating life cycle assessment, the framework captures both operational and embodied carbon trade-offs that conventional approaches often overlook. The project aims to produce transparent and policy-relevant evidence supporting locally tailored retrofit prioritisation for UK housing decarbonisation.