Consumers and the Smart Grid
The advantages and disadvantages of the smart grid system Rolling out the smart grid should help keep the lights on in Britain, reducing the threat of blackouts while hopefully providing value for money for the consumers. Aside from helping the…
Smart Meters
What are smart meters? The smart meter is a relatively new technology that records real time electricity and gas usage and delivers this information back to the utility companies wirelessly, without the need for manual readings. Smart meters keep the…
Time of Use Tariff
Update: Four years on, the first Time of Use tariff has now been introduced. Read about it here. Ahead of our launch of the smart grid section on TheGreenAge, I thought I would open with a blog about Time of…
The Annual Energy Statement 2013
The Government released their annual energy statement last week, right in the midst of a furore created by the opposing political parties trading blows over energy policy and the ‘Big Six’ beginning to detail their Autumn energy price increases. In…
UK going nuclear – Hinkley nuclear plant given go-ahead
Hinkley C – Our first Nuclear Power plant in a Generation! The UK has utilised nuclear power to meet its energy requirements since 1956. Nowadays, the UK has 16 operational nuclear reactors situated across 9 power plants and these contribute…
The Autumn 2013 Energy Price Rises
SSE First to announce Autumn 2013 Energy Price Rises We all woke up to the news this morning that SSE has decided to put energy prices up by 8.2% from mid November. This is the first of the ‘Big 6’…
Electrical blackouts: are they fact or fiction?
Blackout – Fact or Fiction? A few weeks ago I watched ‘Blackout’, a Channel 4 series/drama documentary in which they hypothesised the impact of a prolonged blackout in the country. Now as I made myself comfortable in front of my…
The potential environmental effects of fracking and shale gas
What is Shale gas and fracking? Shale gas is natural gas found in shale rock formations underground. Due to the lack of permeability of the shale rock, the gas is trapped and cannot be extracted through a conventional well bore.…
What you need to know about an EPC
What is an EPC? An Energy Performance Certificate is a document which details the energy rating of your property (much like the rating system for appliances). This includes a breakdown of current efficiencies of certain aspects of the home, like…
Could Negawatts revolutionise the Energy Industry?
What exactly is a Negawatt? Coined by famous economist Amory Lovins, the term simply refers to avoided energy use, or saved energy. The simplest way of illustrating this is to imagine a 60-watt incandescent bulb producing light. If you replaced…