The Good Energy Shop

We're moving....

Thank you for visiting the Good Energy Shop blog. Unfortunately we will no longer be posting here as we have merged the posts with our Green Energy Republic blog. Please take a look at that site and follow us there – we promise it to be well worth a visit.

Alternatively check out the Shop, visit Good Energy, or learn how to Generate Your Own electricity.

Thanks for reading

Good Energy team

Good Energy Shop customer case study: John Rhodes

John Rhodes in Bedfordshire is harnessing the sun's power and turning it into his own green electricity.

John is an old hand at solar generation - he's had a solar thermal system on his roof for the past five years which takes care of about 75% of his annual hot water needs. One of the first to join Good Energy's HotROCs scheme - which is funded by Good Energy Gas customers - he earns about £86 a year from us for the heat he generates, as well as saving money on heating his hot water.

John was so pleased with the performance of his solar thermals that he's gone a step further, and had a 10-panel 1.8 kWp Solar PV system installed on his roof, so he can start generating clean, green electricity.

"We try and follow a green lifestyle," John explains. "We do a lot of recycling and have a rainwater harvesting system for flushing toilets. I've always wanted solar PV, and when I saw it was available from the Good Energy Shop and Sundog for a good price, around £10,000, I decided to go ahead."

With interest rates at rock bottom, the attractions of solar PV are not only ecological but also financial. As a customer of Good Energy's HomeGen scheme, he'll earn 15p per kWh he generates, the highest rate in the market. John says, "At the moment, it's better to have your money on the roof than in the bank."

To find out how you can start the journey to generating your own energy, visit our new website www.generateyourown.co.uk

 

Finance your microgeneration project with a social loan from Zopa

Installing your own renewable energy generator can be expensive but Good Energy can help you get a loan for your project. We've been working with social lending platform ZOPA to help our customers get access to finance to fund their microgeneration projects.

When Zopa launched in 2005, it was the world's first social lending platform. It works by bringing together people who are looking to invest in a project with people who are looking for funding. The prospective borrower creates a personal listing detailing how much money they're looking for and what they want to finance. Lenders then look through the listings to see if there are any projects that they'd like to invest in - from publishing their own books, to reconditioning a guitar, Zopa borrowers have been able to get funding for projects that are important to them. 

Zopa keeps everyone safe by conducting various security and credit checks and keeping all personal details secure. You can find out more about how Zopa works by clicking here.

And don't forget that generating your own energy earns you an income. Good Energy Generation's award-winning schemes pay you for the renewable energy you generate, so once you have installed your generator you can sign up to the right scheme for you.

 Subscribe in a reader

Energy Saving News

Pay as you save proposed for 7m British homes
The UK Green Building Council, a government advisory body, has made a radical proposal to increase energy efficiency in 7 million UK homes. The group has put forward a plan for a scheme that would give homeowners access to up to £10,000 for energy conservation efforts, which they could then repay through increased council tax.

The importance of energy efficiency is finally being recognised as a vital tool for emissions reductions. As we reported last week, the US could save $1.3 trillion and a gigaton of electricity usage a year simply through energy-saving measures in industry. Now that’s a lot of emissions. In the UK, household emissions account for a quarter of our total, largely through lack of insulation and inefficient appliances. Tackling household emissions will be a key part of our low carbon transition.

"This innovative proposal would provide the finance to trigger a revolution in household refurbishment, creating thousands of new jobs and significantly cutting emissions. Both government and opposition have voiced their support for the principles of a scheme like this – what's needed is to get on with it," Paul King, Chief Executive of the Building Council, told the Guardian last week.

The idea is that councils could take a Local Land Charge out on each house so that the costs would be reflected to the house rather than the owner. Then if the house is sold, the additional cost will be passed on to the next owner. It is thought that the huge savings on electricity and gas bills will offset the higher council tax.

The proposal has not had the best response from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), who are wary of using local councils as funding mechanisms. DECC wants energy-saving initiatives to come from power companies.

Developers claim £80 a year bills for new homes
Property developers Saxon Weald have just built some showcase houses in West Sussex that boast such stringent energy-efficiency measures that their annual electricity bills will be as low as £80. Built to meet level five of the government’s sustainable housing code the properties come equipped with solar panels, rainwater harvesting, ground source heat pumps and energy-conserving insulation and double glazing.

With average electricity bills currently around £500 this proves how much can be achieved with decent energy saving standards.

More on the story at the Energy Savings Trust.

Light lane goes into production
One of our first posts on this blog was about a concept product called the Light Lane. An ingenious idea that projects a bike lane onto the road for cyclists so that cars know to keep their distance.

The concept got such an overwhelming response that the design team decided to put it into production, and are now building a prototype. Keep up to date with them at their site - http://lightlanebike.com

And watch the prototype video:

()

Shop Team

 Subscribe in a reader

Energy Saving News

US Could Save $1.2 Trillion with Energy Efficiency

Global management consultancy McKinsey & Company have published a report suggesting the US could save a whopping $1.2 trillion dollars with better energy efficiency. They’ve conducted a detailed analysis of non-transport uses of energy and suggested solutions to energy waste. The huge sum vastly outweighs the estimated $520 billion investment needed to make these changes. 

Their measures would save 1.1 Gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, the equivalent of taking every car and light truck in the US off the road. In total, McKinsey believes that the US could cut its energy demand by 23%. 

This highlights the need for energy efficiency in this country too, as we are guilty of similar inefficiency problems. It raises the important point that energy efficiency should actually be seen as a resource. It’s a tool both in tackling climate change and for saving money. 

http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/electricpowernaturalgas/US_energy_efficiency/

 Wireless power systems

Following up our story about Nokia’s plans to charge mobile phones with ambient airwaves comes a technology that boasts the potential to replace millions of miles of cables and disposable batteries. US company Witricity have come up with a working prototype for wireless electricity. Sounds crazy? Yup… But it seems like it might actually work. 

We’re not going to pretend to understand the “simple” physics, but it’s something to do with resonant frequencies of electronics being transferred to each other. It could revolutionise the way our electronics work, and hopefully stop me running out of battery on my phone, a regular occurrence. From a green perspective, it may finally do away with the 40 billion disposable batteries being produced every year. In fact, why are they still around anyway? Rechargeable batteries last much longer and cost less. Disposables should just be banned. 

Anyway, read the full wireless story here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8165928.stm 

DIY Kyoto fit to be king

The Wattson has made it into the royal family! Our most stylish energy monitor the Wattson has been commandeered for energy saving duty at Clarence House, where Prince Charles is hell bent on becoming energy efficient. Click the imag below:

Doesn’t he look happy there? It’s not that Pimms or his £18 million income, it’s the Wattson! You too could be happy if you had a Wattson – click here to learn more.

Good Energy Shop Team  

P.S. More On Water

Not so much you can do about this, unless you work for a water company, but the Telegraph have just exposed that 3.3 billion litres of water are lost through pipes every day in the UK!

Full story here: 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5949479/3.3-billion-litres-of-water-lost-from-pipes-daily.html 

Water – the new electricity

Wasting electricity has long been on the sin list of us greenies – the carbon emissions it takes to produce most of our electricity (unless you are with Good Energy) means it should be a crime to leave the lights on unnecessarily or keep things on standby. Awareness has also been growing of how wasting water may be just as bad. The energy and resources it takes to collect, sanitise and distribute water is massive. And most of it is literally going down the drain as millions of gallons of water is lost in pipelines and homes across the UK.

There is plenty we can do to avoid wasting water. Here we go…

Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth – The average tap gushes 2 gallons a minute, and all good teeth brushers know you should scrub for at least 2 minutes, twice a day, so that’s 8 gallons of water a day per person lost just from brushing teeth.


Get clean in the shower – Get a low flow showerhead. They mix oxygen into the water so it feels like you are using the same volume, when actually they can save between 50 and 70% consumption on traditional shower heads. They are cheap and easy to install too.

And don’t spend too long in there. The Good Energy Shop sells an Eco Savers Shower Timer which lets you know when your time is up. Or you can do what my dad used to do when we (and guests!) spent too long in the shower – turn off the water supply. That does the trick.

Bring down the cistern -Toilets use a ridiculous amount of water, and in most cases, far more than necessary to do the job! An old trick is to put a brick in the cistern. This stops it filling up too much and so uses less water per flush.


Water your garden in the morning – If you are a green fingered gardener then be sure to water your plants at cool times so water is not lost to evaporation. So the best times are at night or early morning. Also, make sure you water from the H2O you have collected in the water butt, rather than from the mains.

Fix your leaks –The average leaky faucet wastes 3 gallons a day. Get it fixed.

Waterless car washing – There are some car wash products out there that do not require water. We haven’t had the chance to try any (as none of us have cars because we are so green, ho ho) but may be worth looking into. They use wetting agents and lubricants to surround dirt particles and absorb them, saving you up to 120 litres of water per car wash. Or, just don’t wash your car, after a while it stops getting any dirtier (I speak from experience).

Greywater collection – Plenty of water is thrown away when it could be used. For example waste from dishwashers, showers, baths and washing machines could be used to flush toilets, instead of fresh treated water. Depending on what you collect, greywater can be ideal for watering the garden.

Hope these help... you should see your water bills decrease and your sense of well being increase!

Michael

Good Energy Shop Team

 Subscribe in a reader

Img credit - http://www.freefoto.com

Energy Saving News

Quick, £20,000 up for grabs for community projects
As part of the government’s new Low Carbon Transition Plan the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) are handing out funding for green community projects.  Projects aimed at reducing community carbon emissions and clean energy sources can apply for up to £20,000 in grants, along with expert support and advice from NESTA for these projects.

The funding is an add on to the Big Green Challenge competition that will see £1 million worth of support for 10 finalists and their emission reducing plans. The DECC have been so impressed with the quality of the applicants they have now extended the offer to a further 17 projects.
“Local solutions to the global problem of climate change are vital if we are to make the shift to a low-carbon future. Yesterday we set out how the Government will achieve this in our UK Low Carbon Transition Plan, but we also need the support of householders and communities across the nation. The winners of Big Green Challenge Plus provide an example of the grassroots action we need to encourage in order to meet our goals… We want to support people in their efforts so they can reap the benefits of cleaner energy, a better quality of life, and stronger, cohesive communities.” Said Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change Secretary.

As well as funding NESTA will provide 10 days of business advice, one on one project management support, free workshops and assistance from University of East Anglia’s Low Carbon Innovation Centre on how to monitor emissions reductions.

Go for it.  http://nds.coi.gov.uk/Content/Detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=404902&SubjectId=15&DepartmentMode=true

Greener Homes Campaign
Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud is on a mission that we like. The TV presenter has launched the Great British Refurb Campaign that calls upon the government to concentrate on reducing emissions of existing homes rather than building new ones. Backed by WWF-UK, the Energy Saving Trust, and the UK Green Building Council the campaign estimates that by retrofitting existing houses 9 million tonnes of CO2 can be saved every year. And the changes can be simple – insulation, energy efficiency, double glazing etc.

Kevin McCloud demonstrated outside the houses of parliament last week by building a sustainable mock house as seen in this video:



The Good Energy Shop is all in favour of regulations on making new buildings more sustainable and energy efficient, but this measure alone is not enough. New buildings only make up a small fraction of the total in the UK, so the real win will be to fix the current heat-leaking, energy-sapping homes already built.

Support the scheme here. http://www.greatbritishrefurb.co.uk/

Great new sites worth checking out
Here’s a great article by the outspoken Jeff Yeager, author of The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches, about imaginative ways to re-use plastic bottles. There are certainly some unexpected ones in there - http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_green_cheapskate/27/fun-ways-to-reuse-plastic-soda-bottles-and-save-money-too.html

In a similar theme a new site called There, I fixed it, promotes some crazy examples of fixing things instead of throwing them away and buying new. Again there are some hilarious ideas, and some pretty unsafe looking ones at that – Good Energy accepts no responsibility if you try these at home!

 Subscribe in a reader

Good Architecture

A big welcome to our partner Satellite Architects. Leaders in sustainable architecture, Satellite will be contributing their cleverness and knowledge to this blog from here on in. So you can look forward to learning about greening the home from the experts, from passive solar to self composting loos! 

Enough said, over to you Satellite…

Good Architecture

Satellite Architects has been recommending clients to use Good Energy since the energy company’s inception. As a sustainable architecture practice we work hard to assure our projects tread as gently on the earth as possible. Now with an energy company we can recommend, we can offer a more thorough service to our clients.

Sustainability covers a broad number of issues related to buildings and each of our clients has its own focus and goals for engaging with sustainability. We have worked with a wide range of clients, from those whose  goal is to be entirely self sufficient, to those who simply want to reduce their running costs.

Sustainability in buildings is a broad subject but can include: the systems used to heat, cool and light your home, how you supply and reuse water, where your waste goes, how you prevent heat loss and gain, where you buy your energy (Good Energy), the materials you put into your home and the labour used to build your home.
   
COST FREE SUSTAINABILITY

There are many things you can do to live in a more sustainable way that don’t have any additional cost. For example recycling food waste into garden compost or using public transport or walking instead of driving. In fact often the most sustainable choices can save you money and may even earn you money.

Sustainable buildings aren’t always about new technology like solar panels, wind turbines and biomass boilers. Many heating and cooling issues can be solved with good design principles which have been used for centuries.

Passive solar design
The Romans positioned their houses and baths to face south installing more windows (Maybe 'openings' is better as I doubt they had Velux then!) on the south side, making maximum use of the sun’s heat and light.

Passive solar design uses the natural movement of heat and air to maintain comfortable temperatures, with little or no mechanical assistance. The point is to design the building to maximize the benefits of the sun using five basic solar design principles: orientation, overhangs, insulation, windows and thermal mass.

Stack effect
Since ancient times the Persians have used wind towers and stack ventilation. A ‘badgir’ is the term for wind tower which is a tall chimney that expels warm air in the day and traps cooler breezes at night. When there is no wind at night, heat released by the tower walls warms the air creating an air density differential and a reduced pressure zone at the top of the tower causing an up draught.  (From the 2nd PALENC Conference and 28th Conference on Building Low Energy Cooling and Advaced Ventilation Technologies in the 21st Century, September 2007, Crete Island, Greece.)

Stack effect is a natural way to cool a building avoiding air conditioning. Stack ventilation is temperature induced. When there is a temperature difference between two adjoining volumes of air the warmer air will have lower density and be more buoyant thus will rise above the cold air creating an upward air stream.

Limit Waste
Limiting waste on your building site won’t cost you any extra and could save you substantial amounts of money. Currently, depending on where you live, you will pay dumping fees plus landfill tax.

Surplus
Using surplus building materials in another great way to save money on your building project and can be free if you are willing to pick up unwanted supplies. See www.builderscrap.com or freecycle.org.

Helpful information
Centre for Alternative Technology free information sheets:
www.cat.org.uk/information/info_content.tmpl?subdir=information&sku=info_is_ecobuilding/

www.satellitearchitects.co.uk

 Subscribe in a reader

Energy Saving News

Energy Savings Trust release domestic wind energy report
The most comprehensive study ever undertaken in the UK has revealed the wind “hotspots” for domestic turbines. The Energy Savings Trust published a report last week that highlights the importance of getting the location right and concluding that in the right circumstances turbines can be highly effective low carbon generators.

The two-year research followed 57 case studies, testing all kinds of turbine from the South West up to northern Scotland. The best case, a 6kW free standing turbine in the Orkney Islands, generated a whopping 22,000 kWh of clean electricity, which equates to a saving (or profit) of £2,800 at average electricity prices.

As we have always said, microgeneration has to be tailored to the conditions. In the worst case, a small turbine mounted on a house in Essex with very low wind speeds, couldn’t even generate enough energy to power its own equipment. This is a case of inappropriate technology and bad location, something we hate to see at the Good Energy Shop. It wouldn’t have happened if the owner had come to us.

But the good news is that the Energy Savings Trust has managed to put a number on the amount of homes suitable for small-scale wind – they reckon it’s around 450,000. That’s not a bad figure for just one technology.

To find out if your home is suitable, they’ve made a very simple form that just needs your postcode and a few other pieces of information. Take a look at their site here.

If your home is suitable then visit our brand new Generate Your Own site here, we have the best range of highly efficient turbines and will guide you through every step of the process. And if the savings aren’t enough, Good Energy also has a scheme that will pay you for the electricity you generate – even if you use it yourself! This pioneering scheme has helped hundreds of people move to low carbon energy at home. Take a look at our homegen schemes here.

Good Energy Shop Team

Energy Saving News

Anyone for £100 million?
The Carbon Trust has just announced a scheme that will allow small and medium sized businesses (SME) access to £100 million worth of interest free, unsecured loans for energy efficiency. The government loans are to help organisations cut their carbon footprint by reducing energy consumption.

If you are an SME then make the most of this while you can – it’s while stocks last, on a first come, first served basis. You can apply for any amount between £2,000 and £400,000 right here. They’ll be doling out the cash over the next two years.

US College runs efficiency programme and saves $5 million
At the risk of sounding like a broken record – saving energy saves money! Here’s a fine example. Ten months ago, the University of Illinois decided to reduce their energy consumption by 10% over the course of a year. They’ve already hit that target and in doing so have pocketed $5 million extra dollars for drinks at the union bar. Oh we joke! The refurbishments have actually cost around the same amount, but the college has already broken even, and is estimating a $1 million a year saving from 2010 onwards.

And how did they do it? Mostly through switching to energy efficient lighting – which we can all do – and with the installation of intelligent energy sensors that control light and heat based on room temperature and number of people in room etc. They upgraded over 40 buildings and re-fitted 80,000 light fittings!

Solar flight challenge
Around the world in 25 days, in a solar powered plane. That’s the bold new challenge facing Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard and his Solar Impulse team. They have come up with an innovative and highly impressive solar powered plane to promote renewable technology and its capabilities.

With a wing span of 61m and a very modest weight of 1,500Kg the plane has solar panels lining the top surface of its wings. With sophisticated aerodynamics and advanced computer system to help minimise energy usage, the Solar Impulse aims to show the capability of low impact flying. The panels will charge batteries that will keep the plane in the air at night time.

The first Atlantic crossing is set for 2012 and will be the first manned solar powered plane to date. The entire world trip will take 25 days, which theoretically the plane can do non stop if it weren’t for pilot fatigue. Piccard reckons he and his project counterpart will share the flying in five day stretches. Five day stretches! That sounds pretty tough to us, but perhaps that’s why we’re sitting behind computers and Mr Bertrand is an Adventurer as a career (nobody ever told me that was an option in sixth form!)

The objective is to raise awareness for renewables. Mr Piccard  says "The real success for Solar Impulse would be to have enough millions of people following the project, being enthusiastic about it, and saying 'if they managed to do it around the world with renewable energies and energy savings, then we should be able to do it in our daily life'."

Shop Team

 Subscribe in a reader