Switching from a conventional boiler to one of the new condensing models will result in substantial savings for householders, according to Switch with Which?.
It says that replacing an old boiler with a new, energy efficient condensing model will more than pay for itself over the years.
For example, the Which? Best Buy Potterton Gold C24 HE combination condensing boiler costs £800. But compared to older models, a modern condensing boiler could cut your gas bills by between £160 and £360 per year depending on the size of your house.
Older boilers tend to lose heat through the flue, wasting nearly 40% of energy in gas.
Greenhouse gases
Not only does this lead to higher bills, it also means an increase in greenhouse gases.
Mike Stevenson, Head of Marketing at Switch with Which? added: ‘If splashing out on a new boiler before Christmas just isn't realistic, though, it doesn't cost a penny to check you're on the best deal for your heating bills, and switch to a better deal if you're not.
‘People who have switched through Switch with Which? are enjoying great average annual savings of over £200 per year on their energy bills, and switching now will let you reap the full benefits by the time you have to turn the radiators up.’
Energy tariffs
Customers using Switch with Which? can check the value of their current deal in just a couple of minutes, immediately start the switching process and within 10 minutes can have switched to another supplier
It’s the most comprehensive switching service available and provides the broadest criteria for selection of a supplier, offering customers a choice of all publicly available tariffs
full article
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Hydrogen brewing gets an electrical boost
A new microbe-powered device can extract up to 99% of the available hydrogen from biological compounds that have stumped previous attempts to ferment fuel from plant waste. The secret is to give the bugs a helping hand with a kick of electric charge.
Hydrogen is an attractive environmentally friendly fuel because burning it creates only water as a waste product. But finding an efficient, clean way to produce hydrogen in the first place is difficult.
Fermenting organic material using microbes is one possibility, but generally produces poor yields. Microbes reach a chemical dead end once sugar from material has been broken down into acetic acid, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. That releases at best only a third of the hydrogen in a molecule of the sugar glucose, for example.
"There is no known biological route to ferment glucose to [get] any more hydrogen than that," says Bruce Logan of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, US, who with colleague Shaoan Cheng has demonstrated a way around that the problem.
Reversed process
Their microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) enable microbes to break down organic materials completely, to just water, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. The latest design can release as much as 99% of the hydrogen in acetic acid, a common dead end to fermentation.
MECs are modified versions of microbial fuel cells, which are used to harvest electrons produced by metabolising microbes as they feed to generate electricity. The electrochemical reactions are balanced when the used electrons are combined oxygen and hydrogen ions also released by the microbes to form water.
Logan's MECs are like microbial fuel cells in reverse. Instead of charge being drawn out, it is pumped in, and the hydrogen ions combine with electrons alone to form hydrogen gas. Applying roughly 0.5 volts provides enough energy to drive thermodynamically unlikely chemical reactions that break down the dead-end products that limited previous attempts to ferment hydrogen.
MECs can also break down other by-products of fermentation that put an end to the process, such as lactic, valeric, and butyric acids, says Logan. In tests it was fed cellulose and glucose and broke them down completely without problems.
'Great news'
The researchers were able to generate up to 1.23 cubic meters of hydrogen per day for every cubic meter of hydrogen fuel cell. This rate of hydrogen production is about 275 times faster than their earlier MEC.
In tests, the system produced hydrogen that, if fed into a hydrogen fuel cell that was 50% efficient, could generate between 1.2 and 3.4 times as much electricity as was fed into the system. By comparison, hydrogen extracted from water can only pay back about 25 to 30% of the energy used to extract it.
"It is surprising that such high hydrogen yields can so readily be obtained," says Patrick Hallenbeck of the University of Montreal in Canada. "The net energy yield appears much higher than what people are getting in other biofuel production processes – bioethanol, for example," he adds.
But the process is still much too slow to be practical, Hallenbeck adds. Logan and colleagues are currently working on improving the speed. The performance of the MECs exceeded the expectations of Lars Angenent, of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, US, who is also interested in using microbes to make fuel. "This is great news," he says.
Mason Inman
full article
Hydrogen is an attractive environmentally friendly fuel because burning it creates only water as a waste product. But finding an efficient, clean way to produce hydrogen in the first place is difficult.
Fermenting organic material using microbes is one possibility, but generally produces poor yields. Microbes reach a chemical dead end once sugar from material has been broken down into acetic acid, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. That releases at best only a third of the hydrogen in a molecule of the sugar glucose, for example.
"There is no known biological route to ferment glucose to [get] any more hydrogen than that," says Bruce Logan of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, US, who with colleague Shaoan Cheng has demonstrated a way around that the problem.
Reversed process
Their microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) enable microbes to break down organic materials completely, to just water, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. The latest design can release as much as 99% of the hydrogen in acetic acid, a common dead end to fermentation.
MECs are modified versions of microbial fuel cells, which are used to harvest electrons produced by metabolising microbes as they feed to generate electricity. The electrochemical reactions are balanced when the used electrons are combined oxygen and hydrogen ions also released by the microbes to form water.
Logan's MECs are like microbial fuel cells in reverse. Instead of charge being drawn out, it is pumped in, and the hydrogen ions combine with electrons alone to form hydrogen gas. Applying roughly 0.5 volts provides enough energy to drive thermodynamically unlikely chemical reactions that break down the dead-end products that limited previous attempts to ferment hydrogen.
MECs can also break down other by-products of fermentation that put an end to the process, such as lactic, valeric, and butyric acids, says Logan. In tests it was fed cellulose and glucose and broke them down completely without problems.
'Great news'
The researchers were able to generate up to 1.23 cubic meters of hydrogen per day for every cubic meter of hydrogen fuel cell. This rate of hydrogen production is about 275 times faster than their earlier MEC.
In tests, the system produced hydrogen that, if fed into a hydrogen fuel cell that was 50% efficient, could generate between 1.2 and 3.4 times as much electricity as was fed into the system. By comparison, hydrogen extracted from water can only pay back about 25 to 30% of the energy used to extract it.
"It is surprising that such high hydrogen yields can so readily be obtained," says Patrick Hallenbeck of the University of Montreal in Canada. "The net energy yield appears much higher than what people are getting in other biofuel production processes – bioethanol, for example," he adds.
But the process is still much too slow to be practical, Hallenbeck adds. Logan and colleagues are currently working on improving the speed. The performance of the MECs exceeded the expectations of Lars Angenent, of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, US, who is also interested in using microbes to make fuel. "This is great news," he says.
Mason Inman
full article
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Using dishwasher at night 'could cut bills'
Householders could benefit from reduced energy bills if they agree to run their washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers in the middle of the night.
The proposal is part of a £6 billion British Gas plan, backed by rival energy companies, to change the way people use their appliances and run their gas meters.
The company calculated that if people used their tumble dryers, washing machines and other energy-hungry appliances in the middle of the night, it could save 1,000 megawatts or almost two per cent of the country's total energy usage.
This is because, in effect, it takes two power stations simply to cope with the surge at peak times, such as 6pm - when people come home from work, turn on the television and oven and put on a load of washing.
British Gas and the other companies want to offer consumers a more sophisticated version of Economy Seven, a tariff pioneered in the 1980s that is still popular.
Economy Seven gives householders a discount for running their boiler in the middle of the night. Energy companies could offer similar discounts to customers for using appliances during late mornings or mid-afternoon, when most people are at work.
However, they could offer these discount schemes only if the Government approves so-called "smart meters" to replace existing gas and electricity meters.
These would allow the energy companies to more closely monitor how much energy each family is using, and scrap the need for a meter reader to call at homes.
Instead the reading would be sent electronically to the organisation's headquarters.
This should save the companies millions of pounds - enough, they say, to eventually fund the £6 billion needed to provide the meters without consumers having to pay a penny.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is in favour of the scheme but has yet to agree with Ofgem, the industry regulator, how to make the meters available across the country at minimal cost.
As part of the plan to persuade the Government to approve the scheme, British Gas has commissioned research to show how much energy could be saved by people using their appliances at off-peak times of the day.
It estimated that smart metering could save each household £2.50 per year. Those opting for an off-peak tariff should enjoy far greater savings.
Any pricing, however, has yet to be decided as the meters are not likely to be introduced until 2010 at the earliest.
There are fears that if different companies, British Gas and Powergen, for example, installed meters in the same area, the cost of each sending an engineer to the same street could wipe out any saving to consumers.
A British Gas spokesman said: "This is our chance to really revolutionise the metering industry.
"If it is done properly, it could give the UK billions of pounds of benefits through cuts in energy use and better customer service."
By Harry Wallop
full article
The proposal is part of a £6 billion British Gas plan, backed by rival energy companies, to change the way people use their appliances and run their gas meters.
The company calculated that if people used their tumble dryers, washing machines and other energy-hungry appliances in the middle of the night, it could save 1,000 megawatts or almost two per cent of the country's total energy usage.
This is because, in effect, it takes two power stations simply to cope with the surge at peak times, such as 6pm - when people come home from work, turn on the television and oven and put on a load of washing.
British Gas and the other companies want to offer consumers a more sophisticated version of Economy Seven, a tariff pioneered in the 1980s that is still popular.
Economy Seven gives householders a discount for running their boiler in the middle of the night. Energy companies could offer similar discounts to customers for using appliances during late mornings or mid-afternoon, when most people are at work.
However, they could offer these discount schemes only if the Government approves so-called "smart meters" to replace existing gas and electricity meters.
These would allow the energy companies to more closely monitor how much energy each family is using, and scrap the need for a meter reader to call at homes.
Instead the reading would be sent electronically to the organisation's headquarters.
This should save the companies millions of pounds - enough, they say, to eventually fund the £6 billion needed to provide the meters without consumers having to pay a penny.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is in favour of the scheme but has yet to agree with Ofgem, the industry regulator, how to make the meters available across the country at minimal cost.
As part of the plan to persuade the Government to approve the scheme, British Gas has commissioned research to show how much energy could be saved by people using their appliances at off-peak times of the day.
It estimated that smart metering could save each household £2.50 per year. Those opting for an off-peak tariff should enjoy far greater savings.
Any pricing, however, has yet to be decided as the meters are not likely to be introduced until 2010 at the earliest.
There are fears that if different companies, British Gas and Powergen, for example, installed meters in the same area, the cost of each sending an engineer to the same street could wipe out any saving to consumers.
A British Gas spokesman said: "This is our chance to really revolutionise the metering industry.
"If it is done properly, it could give the UK billions of pounds of benefits through cuts in energy use and better customer service."
By Harry Wallop
full article
Monday, 12 November 2007
Home green home
IT IS a quiet and picturesque parish in the Scottish Borders, but Ayton is on the cusp of a revolution in the way renewable energy can be used to run our homes.
Building work begins today on the town's Beanburn Road, to create what it is believed will be Europe's first hydrogen-fuelled, zero-carbon home.
It will be the house of the future - a home completely independent from the national grid, which will make Scotland a worldwide centre for excellence in renewables. It will be equipped with a wind turbine and solar cell and generate hydrogen from water.
Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA), which is behind the project, thinks it is the first of its kind in Europe and says it will make Scotland a world leader in the renewables industry.
The pilot will be in social housing, with a family recruited to live in it before it is completed in March 2008, but if the technology proves successful it could be rolled out to private homes
The scheme will see a photovoltaic - or solar power - system added to the house, along with a wind turbine. The energy produced by these will be used to electrolyse water to split it into oxygen and hydrogen.
The hydrogen will be stored in underground tanks - each of which will be capable of producing a month's worth of electricity and heat.
"In effect, you end up with a power station within the home," said Mr Brown.
LINDSAY MCINTOSH
full article
Building work begins today on the town's Beanburn Road, to create what it is believed will be Europe's first hydrogen-fuelled, zero-carbon home.
It will be the house of the future - a home completely independent from the national grid, which will make Scotland a worldwide centre for excellence in renewables. It will be equipped with a wind turbine and solar cell and generate hydrogen from water.
Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA), which is behind the project, thinks it is the first of its kind in Europe and says it will make Scotland a world leader in the renewables industry.
The pilot will be in social housing, with a family recruited to live in it before it is completed in March 2008, but if the technology proves successful it could be rolled out to private homes
The scheme will see a photovoltaic - or solar power - system added to the house, along with a wind turbine. The energy produced by these will be used to electrolyse water to split it into oxygen and hydrogen.
The hydrogen will be stored in underground tanks - each of which will be capable of producing a month's worth of electricity and heat.
"In effect, you end up with a power station within the home," said Mr Brown.
LINDSAY MCINTOSH
full article
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