Smart meter energy savings less than 3%

"green but not with envy"

A rare occurrence - reading a weekend paper - but one I actually managed this weekend and I'm jolly glad I did to.

The Independent ran an interesting article on Smart Meters.

It seems that a trial of 18,000 homes by Ofgem has revealed that those families only managed a reduction of 3% compared to not having the smart meter.

The figures, The Independent reports, are still higher than the 2.8% (in electricity) and 2% (in gas) reductions the Government expects when smart meters are rolled out nationwide - due to start in 2014.

And there were other side-effects too. Family quarrels and bickering as only certain family members engaged with the technology whist others felt condemned for using energy is so frivolous a manner as boiling a kettle.

One homeowner reckoned his wife was so obsessed that she wouldn't put the heating on, resulting in them sitting in the cold, rather than being warm.

The smart meter programme isn't going to come cheap and the costs must surely be passed onto homeowners in some guise, under ever increasing and unmanageable energy bills.

And with a return so low (and this from 'volunteers' already interested in the technology and using it), you have to wonder if there will be any energy reduction / cost benefits at the end of it all?

Read The Independents full report here. It's interesting.

photo credit: mikes camera

Ho Ho oh! Festive Energy Saving Lightbulb giveaway not too bright

I'm indebted to Green Building Press for posting a rather catchy post about how a new energy saving lightbulb, which has been developed and built in the UK, could save up to 70% of energy usage compared with current streetlamp bulbs.

Whilst street lighting only accounts for 2% of the UK's total energy consumption, a saving is still a saving. Who knows? They might even install more of them.

What caught my eye was a paragraph lower down, a story within a story almost about energy companies mailing out vast quantities of energy saving lightbulbs for the home as a way of 'meeting' their own energy efficiency targets as set by the Government.

Apparently, one supplier sent out 12 million over Christmas, adding a quite unnecessary burden to a busy postal service.

As Green Building Press reports - The Energy Saving Trust calculates the average home already has 6 or more energy saving lightbulbs laying unused in drawers and cupboards. These mail schemes are actually paid for by homeowners through fuel bills - the average customer pays £38 a year towards subsidies for green projects (according to the energy watchdog Ofgem).

The scheme which was supposed to see energy companies subsidising loft and cavity wall insulation saw them, not surprisingly, choose the easier option of mailing energy saving lightbulbs, to help them meet their carbon reduction targets.

The government actually banned free light bulb mailing schemes from the New Year.

Read the full report which includes insights into how exactly the energy companies have neatly side-stepped more serious efforts to promote energy efficiency at Green Building Press by clicking here.

photo credit: Elsie Esq

Farmer diversifies to add value to his farm with renewable energy source

Spotted in the Farmers Guardian - how one welsh farmer prays for rain.

Whilst many of us struggle with torrential downpours or even the odd drizzle, one Welsh farmer loves the stuff.

And he's got good reason to.

Alan Williams has installed a 10kW hydro electric generation plant on his 300 acre farm and in the 18 months since he installed it, has been saving himself a pretty penny.

"Not only are there the normal savings in expenditure to be had, but it also maximises payments for the surplus energy being fed into the National Grid.

At the heart of the venture is a small, three-metre square shed hidden away in a stream-side dingle – it houses what has been a capital investment of around £20,000.

But with their own electricity bills reduced from £2,000 a year to a mere £75, plus an annual payment of £4,000 from Ofgem for producing renewable energy, as well as payment for the power exported to the National Grid, payback is expected in just two-and-a-half years.

Automatic switchover provides mains electricity back-up."

You can read the full interesting article at Farmers Guardian by clicking here. It just goes to show that with a little imagination and advice, you can really make alternative energy investments work for you.

As Alan states in the article "There used to be three woollen mills running off water power in this valley years ago, so really we are just going back to using a resource which was already here".

photo credit: nicksarebi