The latest trend in domestic heating circles – low-carbon gas absorption technology that heats and cools buildings with claimed significant cost and environmental benefits – has taken a further step forward with the launch of gas absorption heat pump (GAHP) solutions for UK consumers.

ENER-G, a Manchester-based sustainable power business has teamed up with Italian manufacturer Robur, to market GAHP systems. The fans of GAHP systems claim they are far better than traditional boiler technologies, because they offer a significantly improved environmental performance.

The principle behind a GAHP system is simple. It works by removing energy from a low temperature heat source – in this case the outside air – and then upgrading it within the heat pump to either heat, or cool water inside a building. The power to run the whole process comes from natural gas, or LPG.

And ironically, this is not exactly a 21st Century technology, having been pioneered in the late 1700s.

Andrew Hill, ENER-G product manager, said:
“GAHP’s harness the properties of refrigerants to change from liquid to gas and back again in order to transfer heat. The technology provides sustainable solutions for a wide range of businesses and households.”

The benefits in operational terms include security of energy supply because there’s less dependency on electricity, there’s no maintenance, and easy installation.

The Robur manufactured systems work up to 165% efficiency.
“Our heat pump solution, in partnership with Robur, provides a reliable, cost-effective, and constant energy source that is highly effective for industrial, commercial and residential use. This is due to the system’s ability both to save energy and increase the value of the building with its A+++ classification issued by the European Commission.” Added Mr Hill.

And GAHPs are suitable as a direct replacement for gas-fired traditional and condensing boilers. They can reach temperatures over 65C and also produce hot water.

The systems can be purchased outright, or rented.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

It might come as a welcome surprise to many who feel that British Gas is a little unwieldy to deal with, but the giant energy company has been ranked as one of the U.K. top 50 places to work.

The accolade actually goes to two businesses inside British Gas: British Gas Business and British Gas Services.

The rankings are put together by The Financial Times newspaper and announced recently at the eighth annual U.K. Best Workplaces Awards ceremony which took place in London recently.

In fact, British Gas Business received a Financial Times Laureate Award for companies that have maintained a position on the list for five consecutive years. To date, only ten organisations have achieved that standard. It’s the second time for British Gas Services.

Badar Khan, British Gas Business managing director, said:
“To come in the UK’s top 50 places to work again is a fantastic achievement. We’ve got a ‘legendary’ employee engagement score at British Gas Business and this award just goes to prove that this means a great deal to the team.”

The Great Place to Work Institute run the awards and they are based on a survey plus organisation questionnaire.

Another newspaper, this time The Sunday Times, also gave British Gas a thumbs up as a great place to deal, making it 17th in its list of top employers.

British Gas is one of th world’s major energy companies and as a residential supplier, is the biggest supplier of gas and electric in the British domestic market with more than 16 million customer accounts.

So, next time a customer is waiting patiently on the telephone being told that an engineer is sure to get there, just remember, at least the souls at British Gas are happy in their work.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Over 25% of the U.K. gas supplies might end up being brought in by ship at two specially adapted ports at Milford Haven, Wales.

The British Government has agreed to buy gas from Qatar for an initial contract period of 25 years.

As North Sea reserves run out, gas brought over from the Middle East in special giant tankers is now seen as a way of maintaining crucial supplies and making the U.K. less reliant on volatile East European supplies.

And it’s all been made possible by a technology which super cools the gas into a liquid, called liquefied natural gas (LNG). This can then be transported in commercially viable quantities in tankers. Gas in it’s natural state would take up far more space than as a liquid, making it too expensive to tanker across thousands of miles.

In an investment worth some £13 billion, the two new special LNG terminals at Milford Haven include special LNG plants, and storage and docking facilities.

Ironically, the first ship bringing in the gas, The Tembek, was met by protesters who have campaigned against the idea for years. They claim that not only is LNG highly dangerous if there was a leak, but that the shipping lane approach to Milford Haven is just too narrow to safely handle a vessel of The Tembek’s size. They fear a catastrophe along the lines of Buncefield (when an oil storage depot literally exploded in 2005).

The Tembek had to wait for the tide so it could berth at the new South Hook terminal. The larger of the two new ports, it was built as a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobile and Total.

The second terminal is expected to become operational later in 2009 and this was built in a partnership between Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas, British Gas and the Netherland’s based 4Gas.

Once the gas has been offloaded and stored at the two ports, it will then be heated up and returned to its natural state, and then pumped long a new pipeline running from the ports to Gloucestershire.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Marks & Spencer have this week announced a move into the energy market as part of a new deal with Scottish & Southern Energy.  Apparently, customers will now be able to buy gas and electricity in their shops and on their web site and earn rewards for signing up, renewing contracts and, perhaps more importantly, for cutting consumption.

M&S claim that their energy prices will be competitive, at around £1,196 per year for an average user, and the same as existing SSE customers who buy dual fuel by direct debit.

M&S Energy customers will get a £15 voucher if they reduce their annual energy usage by 10% and another £10 voucher if they opt for paperless billing.  Those who switch to M&S Energy ‘Dual-fuel’ also receive a £20 M&S voucher on sign-up and an extra £10 voucher for each year they remain with M&S Energy.  The deal will be launched on October 27th on the M&S web site and available through its network of stores by the end of November.

Some would say that the energy market is already complicated enough without major high street retailers jumping on the bandwagon.  There’s a plethora of suppliers to choose from and each has its own bewildering array of promotional offers, incentives and discounts to baffle new and existing customers with.  However, M&S have a world-class brand, a reputation for quality and a loyal and trusting customer base to leverage and I suppose selling energy is no worse an idea than Tesco selling car insurance or John Lewis selling holidays.

But where does this relentless drive for diversification end?  M&S cars?  M&S mobile phones? M&S stair lifts?  The retailer is already selling electrical goods and furniture and this new energy deal is part of an ongoing initiative to expand into a wider range of goods and services. 

Clearly, we are living through troubled times and high street retailers are under increasing pressure to innovate their way out of the current downturn in sales and the inevitable slump in profits.  M&S also face increasingly difficult trading conditions and they have fallen from grace with the City since those heady days of £7.50p per share valuations just last year.  Their current share price of £2 speaks volumes about investors’ opinions on their short to medium-term prospects! 

Utility companies tend to have much more of a charmed, ‘dull-but-steady’ existence, fairing well through the tougher trading periods but, conversely, fairly unexciting through the good times too. SSE, one of the ‘big six’ domestic energy suppliers with around 8.5 million customers, will want to use this new link with M&S to reach additional customers and grow its market share.  M&S will be happy to have the new revenue stream to hopefully prop up losses in some of its more ’sensitive’ product lines.

So, it may have all the makings of being a sensible deal for both parties but what about the poor consumer?  Will M&S customers be getting a great deal?  Will they be better of than buying direct from energy suppliers in the open market?  Only time will tell but I doubt it.

I don’t think a few vouchers could ever persuade me to stick with just one energy supplier purely because M&S choose to recommend them.  However much I like M&S as a purveyor of good food, boxer shorts and socks, I won’t be fooled into trusting them to supply my every need!  There are far too many deals and  incentives in the market that make it more lucrative to regularly switch my energy supplier to save money.  The vouchers simply don’t compensate for the potential savings lost.  However, if M&S ever get the confidence to guarantee the best prices in the marketplace and they promise to take the leg work out of constantly switching supplier for me… then I might just reconsider.

Article by Alan Potts

The summer’s over, the kids have only just got back to school and we’ve already received our first ‘nannying’ lecture from No 10.  This time telling us not to waste so much energy!

Gordon Brown has called for us all to change the way we use household energy and announced a £910m contribution to free and half-price home insulation for our homes.

After the huge energy price hikes earlier this year (Gas bills are up 31% and Electricity up 22%), we were at least hoping to see some constraints placed on excessive energy company profits as well as some very real help for those least able to pay the extra cost of heating their home.  It’s clear from Gordon’s little lecture that the energy companies are going to get off scot-free and the unlucky consumer will need to insulate their home first to stand any chance of reducing energy bills. 

For those deemed to be in ‘fuel poverty’, where more than 10% of their household income is spent on fuel, these measures will no doubt prove to be nothing short of totally useless.  If you can’t pay your weekly bills, are you really going to speculatively insulate your house to see if it helps to bring down your costs?  Quite apart from the fact that most of the least well off will be in rented accommodation and therefore dependent upon their landlord to make the improvements.  And how likely is that?

As for telling us to turn down our thermostats, switch off the lights, block out the draughts and close the curtains at dusk to save energy, apart from insultingly ’stating the bleeding obvious’ it sounds to me like New Labour just thinks it’s our problem, not theirs!

What do you think?

Mini-Post by Alan Potts