Human in the Loop in the Frame of the Energy Transition: Key Takeaways
Sustainable Places 2025, 9 October 2025
Context
This summary comes from the workshop “Human in the loop digitalisation for Europe’s energy transition,” organised under the Smart Energy Cluster by ICONS with contributions from DEDALUS, CRETE VALLEY, EnerTEF and ENPOWER.
In brief
Human in the loop is not a slogan. It is a practical way to design and govern energy AI systems that people can understand, trust and adopt. The workshop distilled six takeaways for projects and policymakers.
1. Beyond buzzwords: from concept to implementation
Human in the loop is often cited but rarely operationalised. Build user engagement and co design into every phase, balance technical and social work across tasks and treat users as co creators. Pair AI startups with energy companies to make algorithms interpretable and adoptable in real settings.
2. Co creation and the role of the social sciences: trust by design
Deliberative workshops, living labs and local advisory boards create mutual understanding. Social sciences experts act as mediators, translating human needs into requirements and defining qualitative indicators of social impact so that solutions are both technically sound and socially meaningful.
3. From economic to social motivation
Money alone does not sustain engagement. Intrinsic and social drivers such as belonging, trust, personalised feedback, environmental purpose and light gamification are stronger levers for lasting behavioural change in demand response and prosumer participation.
4. Language as a bridge or a barrier
Engineers speak data while social scientists speak values and narratives. Projects that appoint bilingual translators across disciplines perform better. Continuous dialogue between humans and machines reduces misunderstandings and rework.
5. From building scale to community scale
Scaling from individual buildings to districts and energy communities increases complexity but multiplies impact. Tailor engagement to local cultures, empower municipalities and associations as mediators and define multi level roadmaps for participatory action.
6. Towards genuinely human centred digitalisation
Digitalisation should empower people, not replace them. Bridge research, industry, policy and citizenship in a continuous design loop, and include behavioural, ethical and social justice principles. Measure success not only by efficiency and performance but also by cultural, social and emotional value for individuals and communities.
Explore and watch the session
Watch the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P4jz_JoKUs