The Good Energy Shop

Eco Toaster takes toast test

It’s not just us that bangs on about how great the Morphy Richards Eco Toaster is, here is an independent review from the pros at the Energy Saving Trust.

The toaster users about the same amount of electricity to power it as most toasters. But with a very simple invention called a “lid” the Eco Toaster keeps so much heat in that it cooks bread much faster than your ordinary bread heater.

Take a look at the video below:

“Another win-win product on the energy and time front - Fantastic!”

Read our reviews of the Morphy Richards Eco Toaster here and if you have any sense, buy it!

http://www.britainunplugged.org.uk/2009/05/anyone-for-toast/

Good Energy Shop team

Product of the future: The Kyoto box

Okay this is not really one for our homes here in England, but this seems a great idea and is worth drawing attention to. The Kyoto Box is this year’s winner of the $75,000 Climate Prize for ideas to fight global warming.

It is a very simple solar stove that can be produced for $5 for use in rural Africa, and it could save an estimated 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. It consists simply of two cardboard boxes with a layer of straw between them for insulation, an acrylic hob top to let the sun into the black painted chamber and some foil to direct the sun inwards. Amazingly this contraption can be used for boiling, frying and baking.

So not only will this prevent burning of wood or gas to cook with, it will also have significant health benefits due to a reduction of smoke inhalation in the home – a common problem in many African communities.

The design is so simple it can be produced with only minor tweaks at existing cardboard box factories, as has just happened with the first batch in Nairobi.

Mr Boehmer, the designer, also hopes these cookers will be eligible for carbon credits, meaning that the Kyoto Box could even turn a profit for their owners.

Hats off to the man!

Low carbon recipe – slow cooked spicy chickpea curry

Now we’ve got the low energy Morphy Richards slow cooker for sale in the shop, we’ve asked the Good Energy team to share their favourite recipes. So here’s Mike to kick us off:

Right well I’ve never been great at quantities, or times, or heats, but these aren’t really important in recipes, are they? Just, errr, cook from the heart, as they say. 

Organic and local ingredients where possible of course:

You will need:

Olive oil

1 white onion, chopped

A piece of fresh ginger – I tend to put loads in because I am addicted

3 cloves of garlic

cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper

2 tins chick peas

tomatoes

Garam Masala

fresh coriander

What to do:

Slice the onion, chop the garlic, do to the ginger whatever you like to do to ginger.

Turn your Morphy Richards on. Heat up a separate pan and fry the onion, ginger, cauliflower and garlic with a bit of salt and pepper until golden.

Rinse the chickpeas and throw these into the slow cooker. Add the fried bits and bobs and chop the tomatoes (keeping all the juice), add and mix all together. Sprinkle in some cumin and turmeric and leave on your medium setting for 6 or 7 hours. 

Just before serving mix in a teaspoon of the masala and then dish out into bowls. Throw some fresh coriander over the top and serve with warm pita or naan bread. 

Done. 

Good cooking: solar eggs

Don’t try this at home unless you have a Fresnel lens and a cool looking pair of protective goggles.

I’m not sure about the colour of the eggs but here’s a way to low carbon cook your breakfast in 10 seconds. 
 

Product Review: the Morphy Richards Ecolectric slow cooker

By Barney Rhys Jones, Good Energy MD

Having watched with horror the effect of the electric oven on my Watson energy monitor I couldn't wait to try out the Ecolectric Slow Cooker. My mum swears by them and she knows great stew so I made a nuisance of myself trying to get hold of the trial product. The result - it's FANTASTIC! Read on...

A couple of neighbours had found a babysitter and invited us to join them for a meal in the local.  But my wife is feeling credit crunched and doesn't fancy paying twenty quid a head for a pub meal.  Why don't they come over here I say.  ‘No-one can be bothered to entertain during the week' she says.

Wrong... the answer, my love, arrived on my desk yesterday - the SLOW COOKER.  On the way home I bought 1kg of cubed skirt (a very flavoursome but cheap cut of beef which needs long slow cooking) for about £7, an onion and a bottle of dry Italian red that was on special. Got home and slung it in the pot with a couple of tins of tomatoes and some herbs (kept back half the wine for chef lubrication). Added some veggies that were knocking about in the bottom drawer of the fridge and a stock cube. Left it overnight in the fridge and after breakfast switched it onto the low setting and went to work.

Came home twelve hours later to the delicious smell of stew throughout the house. Mashed some ‘tatoes and waited on my mates turning up with the peas. With a kilo of beef to eat I had invited a couple of other neighbours who conveniently brought dessert!
The whole meal can't have cost more than £15 quid - fed six people (who stopped just short of licking the plates clean) - used very little energy and took very very little effort.  Cooking skirt that long there is really no need to brown the meat or sweat the onions.
In short - TOTAL SUCCESS. Mid week dinner parties are back on!

BUY the ecolectric slow cooker here - only £34.25

Also, take a look at the ecolectric kettle, and the ecolectric toaster (they are not slow).

New products: Morphy Richards' Ecoelectric kettle & slow cooker

In their bid to raise the game for more eco friendly home appliances Morphy Richards have released the Ecoelectric kettle & the Ecoelectric slow cooker, and we’ve got them both at the shop. 

Ecoelectric slow cooker, only £34.25

Slow cooking, it’s all the rage amongst us low carbonites (and superb chefs). Ask any decent cook about the best way to do stews, casseroles, soups, all kinds of meals, and they will say “slowly.” Thankfully, we can now hear this as “energy efficiently”.  A standard slow cooker uses around 340 Watts compared with an electric oven at 900 Watts - and this beauty uses 44% less energy than other slow cookers due to its rigorous insulation. You’ll see your bills drop significantly if you start to use this regularly.

Never slow cooked before? Fear not – the cooker comes with a slow cook book. 


Ecoelectric kettle, only £34.25

Making tea is such an everyday thing that it’s easy to forget how much power is actually consumed to boil water. This new Jug kettle offers a solution – an eco switch. There are two settings, one to boil water to 100 degrees, and the other to only 85 degrees, saving 24% of the energy in the process. For coffee lovers this is ideal, as boiling water will actually burn the coffee and leave a bitter after taste. Good for herbal tea drinkers too, who usually have to wait 3 hours before the water they have boiled has cooled down enough to be palatable!

It's great to see a main stream company making the switch to efficient products, they promise more on the way.

Shop team

Dishwasher cooking: Poached Salmon

There’s plenty of debate on treehugger about the virtues of dish washers. Surprisingly, there’s a good argument to say they are more efficient than hand washing. Many are yet to be convinced, but here’s something that may tip the balance. Again, we like this because we definitely would not have thought of it!

Some energy saving buffs over at Terrapass put to use the age old idea of killing two birds with one stone – cooking with the hot water inside a dishwasher. 

The first recipe they have tried is poached salmon:

Place salmon on small sheet of foil

Drizzle 1 TB of olive oil, juice of half a lemon, and salt & pepper onto fish.

Wrap up tightly in foil and place packet in top rack of a full dishwasher.

Add detergent, close door, and push start.

When cycle is complete (about 1 hour), open dishwasher, retrieve packet, unwrap, and serve.

Low carbon delicious!

See the taste test here:

So, recipe ideas in the comment box please. And any ideas about how you can double up appliances to save energy. 

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