Net-zero engagement for local government using conversational AI
A conversational AI guide helping citizens and councils act on net zero.
The Challenge
Local authorities carry much of the burden of the UK’s net-zero transition, but engaging residents and businesses is hard: net-zero guidance is fragmented, technical and constantly changing, and council teams cannot answer every question about retrofit options, grants, energy saving and local schemes at the scale and speed residents need. Portsmouth City Council, like many councils, needed a way to make net-zero decision-making accessible to non-experts.
The Solution
LINZI developed a Net Zero chatbot — a conversational AI tool built on large language model technology to support net-zero decision-making and engagement. NQM applied its AI platform to ground the LLM-driven assistant in trusted net-zero content, giving users a natural-language interface to otherwise hard-to-navigate information. It was delivered in collaboration with Portsmouth City Council.
Outcomes
The project delivered a working Net Zero chatbot demonstrator, hosted at linzi.nqm.ai, within the 12-month project, completing in October 2024 in partnership with Portsmouth City Council.
In Detail
A conversational AI guide helping citizens and councils act on net zero.
Net-zero guidance is fragmented, technical and constantly changing — and council teams cannot answer every question about retrofit options, grants, energy saving and local schemes at the scale and speed residents need. LINZI is a Net Zero chatbot: a conversational AI assistant built on large language model technology that makes net-zero decision-making accessible to non-experts, developed in collaboration with Portsmouth City Council.
Core benefits
- Natural-language answers — residents and council teams ask plain-English questions about net-zero choices and actions.
- Grounded responses — answers are grounded in curated, trusted net-zero content to support reliable decision-making.
- Scalable engagement — a single assistant serves residents, businesses and council stakeholders around the clock.
Live demonstrator
A working Net Zero chatbot demonstrator is hosted at linzi.nqm.ai, delivered within the 12-month programme in partnership with Portsmouth City Council.
Features
Conversational Net Zero assistant answering natural-language questions on net-zero choices and actions.
Grounding of LLM responses in curated net-zero content to support reliable decision-making.
Public demonstrator deployment (linzi.nqm.ai) accessible to council stakeholders and residents.
Applies LLM conversational AI specifically to local-authority net-zero engagement, developed hand-in-hand with a council partner.
Benefits
Delivered a Net Zero chatbot demonstrator (linzi.nqm.ai) within the 12-month programme (delivered output).
Gave Portsmouth City Council a scalable channel for resident and stakeholder net-zero engagement (likely impact; projection).
Completed the Net Zero Living Digital Accelerator round 1 programme in October 2024.
Volt features used
Working with
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