nPower has enlisted the help of the celebrity northern chefs the Hairy Bikers to help promote the nPower Cook Book and open their new Sunderland offices.

Although the new office complex, which will house some 2,000 employees and is based at Rainton Bridge, won’t open until September, it was too good an opportunity to miss and the touring Hairy Bikers dropped in to see the new offices and the nPower Cook Book.

The nPower Cook Book is part of the company’s commitment to bring the FIFA World Cup 2018 to England. nPower is an official supporter of the campaign and have teamed up with the celebrity biker chefs who are well known football fans.

The nPower Cook Book is based on recipes from the 32 countries taking part in the current World Cup and each one of the recipes is focused on their energy efficiency when being prepared. The energy efficient recipes range from Slovenian Baked Mushrooms, to England’s Steak and Ale Pie. It is all part of the company’s smartpower initiative.

An employee of the energy giant, Gary Doig, said of the visit by the TV chefs Si King and Dave Myers and the nPower cook book:
“I’m a huge fan of the Hairy Bikers, so I was over the moon to meet the pair. They spent time chatting to everyone in the office and gave us some helpful cooking tips too! It was quite surreal to see two guys off the telly stood next to my desk, but they were really funny and we were all really excited to have them here.”

The hairy bikers, as well as tasting dishes made from the nPower Cook Book, made on the day in the office complex restaurant, enjoyed their visit:

Si King said:
“It was great to visit nPower’s offices just days after a big England match – everyone was in great spirits from the footie and from their brand new surroundings. It made a nice change to spend the day back home in the North East, and tuck into some grub that had been made for us! The pie was almost as good as our own steak & ale pie recipe in the nPower cook book.”

Mike Myers chipped in with:
“We’re massive football fans and think it’s fantastic that nPower has come up with a way of getting everyone excited about enjoying the football and doing their bit for the planet at the same time.”

The nPower cook book rated dishes as their energy efficiency in their preparation and awarded each dish a rating from one to five stars. A one star was the most efficient and for example, the Algerian couscous dish got this top rating. The Blue Cheesecake recipe from the US got three stars and England’s Steak and Ale Pie got an unfortunate five stars.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The British Gas energy saver initiatives continue with news that they are to give British schools £15 million worth of free solar panels.

The energy giant has said it will not only donate, but also install, free of charge solar panels in around 750 schools. This is effectively a donation worth between £20,000 and £40,000 to every school. Once installed, each school within the scheme will then be able to generate its own free, ‘green’ electricity. And this means they should be able to reduce their own individual annual electricity bills by about 20%.

Overall, British Gas say that combined, the schools’ panels should be able to create in the region of £1.3 million every year for the next 25 years. This money will be used to invest in installing more solar panels for more schools, increasing the number of schools participating to well over 1,000.

And this particular British Gas energy saver initiative is not only about saving money, but also saving carbon emissions. It’s thought that this scheme will reduce emissions by around 1,500 tonnes every year. This is the same as taking 400 cars off the road.

Managing Director of British Gas, Phil Bentley, said:
“This is the biggest investment of its kind in solar technology for our nation’s schools, which will help them cut both their carbon emissions and their electricity bills – as well as learn about renewable energy in a hands-on way.

“The electricity generated by these schools will help pay for the scheme to be extended to even more schools throughout the country, which is great news for school leaders, parents and pupils who are all looking for ways to save money during these tough economic times.”

The new government schools minister Nick Gibb said:
“This is a very generous offer and I’m sure many schools will feel they can benefit from solar panels. Cutting down on energy costs and reducing carbon emissions are absolutely the right thing to do. It’s a valuable lesson for pupils that we can all help to use energy sparingly, and where possible, generate it from sustainable or renewable resources.”

Every school taking part in this British Gas energy saver initiative will be given a smart meter. This will tell the school’s pupils and teaching staff the amount of energy being saved. What’s more, the energy giant will also be providing Generation Green lesson plans which will help children understand the main ideas behind renewable energy.

Schools interested in being a part of the scheme should register for an application form.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The first smart fridges are on their way to the UK.

And by smart they don’t mean they’ll make you a fortune on the derivative markets. Smart fridges have the tag because they are domestic fridges that automatically switch on and off to save carbon.

And believe the experts, these smart fridges could bring about massive cuts in the UK’s CO2 emissions.

The first residential trial of the smart fridges are to start shortly.

The principle behind the operation of a smart fridge is simple. They respond to signals from the national grid which tells the fridge when energy demand is at its highest. Once this situation is reached – say the World Cup 2010 when England reach half-time two nil up and everyone rushes out to switch the kettle on – the fridge obligingly shuts off its power supply. The power stations relax and the fridge stays off long enough to save power, but not too long to ruin the viability of the food inside it.

Smart fridge trials are just starting, but if successful say the Government boffins, they reckon that they could shave off two million tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

A total of 300 smart fridges will form the vanguard of the trial
which will initially be delivered to people who live in Sandwell in the west Midlands. Over the two-year period, some 3,000 smart fridges will be included in the trial.

The smart fridge initiative is a joint project between one of the largest white goods company, Indesit; energy giant npower; smart grid technology developer, RLtec; and, social landlord Sandwell Homes. All are operating under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. Known as CERT, this is a directive by which energy companies are obliged to help homeowners save both carbon and energy.

Smart fridges rely on intelligent operation, which is based on dynamic demand technology. This works by sending, every second, changes from the national grid as regards the overall energy needs. And once peak supply is reached, the smart fridges use their brains, reducing their power consumptions to help the overall situation. But all this will take place without the fridge’s owner being aware of what is happening. It will, say the people behind the initiative, be a seamless operation.

The Chief Executive Officer of RLtec, Andrew Howe, said:
“A technology in the home that automatically helps to cope with peaks and demands in energy use is an exciting concept and could really help reduce demand on power stations, and see homeowners playing a big role in cutting the UK’s emissions. The smart fridges are simply plugged in as you would with any normal fridge and the technology does the rest – when multiplied across several thousand or several million homes, the carbon saving potential is massive.”

Head of Energy Efficiency at nPower, Bob Jackson, added his own comments:
“In our everyday lives we’re all becoming much more tuned into saving energy be that switching off TVs or insulating our lofts. These are great ways of cutting carbon and will continue to be important measures, but smart fridges could be another valuable way of helping to manage energy demand that doesn’t call on direct action. Projects like this are important in understanding the potential such technology has.”

And Innovation and Digital Design Director at Indesit, Andriano Mencarini, added his bit by stating:
“There are few innovations as simple and effective as smart fridges in cutting domestic CO2 emissions. We are on the brink of a major turning point in home energy efficiency. At Indesit, we have a long history of innovation and a strong determination to help the environment and through our joint development with RLtec we are very excited about the future of this technology. We eagerly anticipate the results of Europe’s first trial.”

Not to be outdone by the big bosses, a resident of Sandwell has her say as well:
“It’s very exciting to be taking part in this trial and being one of the first people in the world to use a smart fridge. It looks just like a normal fridge freezer and we’ve been using it in just the same way so if it’s helping to cut the UK’s carbon footprint too, that’s great.”

So hail the smart fridges. Just get worried if it asks to take the car for a drive, or wants to meet your boss. This could be the end of civilisation as we know it.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The UK’s largest energy supplier, British Gas, has announced that it plans to step-up its smart meters installation programme and get two million of the devices in-situ in their customers’ houses by 2012.

British Gas say that this will allow more British households to take advantage of all the benefits that smart meter technology offers them, including real-time usage information, which helps to cut energy use and therefore reduce carbon emissions, and thus cut fuel bills.

And to show its determination to reach the target by 2012, it has partnered with a number of leading companies to put together its smart meter system. These include mobile phone company Vodafone; billing systems group SAP; two software and communications firms OSIsoft and Trilliant; and, smarter meter manufacturer Landis+Gyr. Also, the Zigbee Smart Energy global wireless home area network standard will be used to link up the in-home devices.

Each of the firms have roles to play in the British Gas initiative. Vodafone is going to provide the network which will carry the signal from the smart meter and allow it to talk to other devices. Landis+Gyr is responsible for developing the smart metering system for the home. It will be designed to monitor both gas and electricity meters, together with an energy usage facility displayed on a colour screen. Managing all the smart meter communications is a “head end” software application from Trilliant which will link-up the smart meters and help integrate other companies’ devices. The system that will store the smart meter data will be provided by OSIsoft. Delivering smart functionality for the IT systems provided by British Gas will be supplied by SAP. And providing the Smart Energy global wireless home area network standard is ZigBee which will link-up the in-home devices.

For British Gas, creating a common smart meter standard is vitally important, so that all suppliers can potentially operate the meters without compatibility problems.

Phil Bentley, Managing Director, British Gas, said:
“At British Gas, we already have the largest smart meter trial in the country. We want all our customers to have smart meters as soon as possible, so they can take advantage of this technology and use it to help them cut their energy use, carbon emissions and fuel bills.

“This is why we recently launched our new smart metering business, and began recruitment of our 2,600 new smart energy experts who will support the roll-out. And this is why we are today announcing a partnership with a group of world-leading companies, with whom we will work to deliver our ambitious target of two million more smart meters in customers’ homes by 2012. We are also sharing our smart meter standards with the rest of the industry.”

Cameron O’Reilly, Chief Executive Officer, Landis+Gyr, said:
“This partnership represents a major breakthrough for smart metering in the UK. Together, we will pioneer the technical and practical standards that will see every home and business in the country switch to smart metering within the next decade. British Gas is actively seeking to transform the market, and we are proud and pleased to have been selected for such an instrumental role in this major deployment.”

And Peter Kelly, Enterprise Director, Vodafone UK said:
“We are focused on making our customers’ lives easier by continuously improving our products and services on the UK’s best network.
"We’re pleased to be working with British Gas on this pioneering trial to accelerate the roll-out of smart meters into British homes. Consumers can count on our fast, reliable network to help them manage their energy costs with British Gas and do their bit to help reduce carbon emissions.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The Labour Government has been reported to be considering a scheme by which a homeowner could fund eco-improvements through a long term loan, possibly provided through the energy companies.

And although an inevitable row has broken out between the political parties as to whose idea it is – both the Tories and Liberal Democrats claim they had the idea first – it is a genuine attempt to help people afford home improvements with the environment in mind. We have already seen the boiler scrappage scheme has been welcomed with open arms as lots of people have jumped on the chance to buy a new gas boiler at a discount. So if it goes through it will hopefully have a positive affect.

It has always been a dilemma for anyone contemplating making changes to their house and more energy efficient, is that the pay-back can be decades.

Take double-glazing which undoubtedly makes a property warmer. Although it will save hundreds of pounds off an average energy bill every year, that won’t cover for a long time the actual cost if installation which will cost thousands of pounds.

Even the simpler job of installing loft insulation is not that cheap, especially if a householder cannot do it as a DIY project.

So the Government plan is simple: provide people with access to long term funding so they can make their home more energy efficient.

The crux is of course, can the Government afford such schemes, especially as over the coming years the public purse is going to have to be considerably tightened and home grants will be hit hard? If you look at the welcomed boiler scrappage scheme, this has proved very popular, but the scheme itself has a limited shelf life, grants for new gas boilers cannot last forever. What’s more, various consumer groups are already complaining that a number of home improvement grant schemes are being withdrawn, or wound-down. Will this result in many of the government boiler grants being forgotten by the power companies as well?

So, it’s perhaps inevitable the Government will want to involve the energy companies in the scheme. Maybe not to wholly bank roll-it, but to act as a clearing house, although you could see the temptation of ministers asking the big energy companies to put their hands in their pockets for people’s house improvements; almost a corporate tax by proxy.

But the cynics might also point out this is the period before the general election, when the Government and opposition parties alike will promise many things which are then conveniently forgotten when they become leaders.

So, it’s a great idea, but don’t hold your breath!

Guest Article by Neil Camp