Every Saturday I have the Telegraph delivered to our door and by Sunday evening am wondering why I bother. Apart from providing paper to light the wood burner and line the dog basket it provides little else. However, last weeks did provide an article of interest. Budgens Lightwater, one of 183 stores in the group was visited by the Telegraphs Mary Portas. The Lightwater branch had recently switched to low energy lighting installed by the ReGen Power team and Mary’s shopping experience must only have been enhanced by the new crisp light. She sings the praises of the local sourcing policy that has to be the way forward. Much of the meat sold in the store is prepared by George Arthur a butcher so local he has a shop directly opposite the Budgens store. ReGen has installed energy-efficient lighting in two of the Budgens stores, is about to commence a third, leaving 180 to go.
Archive for March, 2010
Willingness to Green-Up
It surprises me, at times, the eagerness of some companies to ‘Go Green’; however I don’t think it should. Considering the current state of finances in the UK now is a golden opportunity to make a real change in the way things work. As a rule the products that we, and others, promote to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions also have the benefit of saving people and companies money. With the help of the government backed Carbon Trust companies can take advantage of an interest free loan to buy products that reduce carbon emissions and with the loan repayments set lower then the projected saving there is a positive return from the off. Once the loan is paid back the full saving comes in to effect.
What does this mean for you? Well if you run an SME it could mean that you effectively get free stuff. Think about it. An interest free loan with the repayments capped below your savings – that’s money you would have spend anyway. So you get to reduce your monthly electricity bill, reduce your carbon footprint and best of all it doesn’t actually cost you anything to do!
At ReGen Power we specialise in helping businesses and individuals save money and save the planet. Why don’t you come and see what we can do for you?
Electric Cars & Green Power
News this week that Nissan will be making their new electric car in Sunderland, not only will the car be made in the UK saving and creating important new jobs and securing a manufacturing base in what could be considered the industrial heartland of the country, but also it will pave the way for future green transport projects as thousands of charging points will be installed to keep the cars moving. I understand that London will also see installation of the charging points.
Also worth mentioning is that Ford are planning serious investment in cleaner engines. For the short term future, certainly, diesel engines provide a practical solution to environmental issues with the dramatic increases in the mpg these engines have given in recent years they provide a useful stepping stone to the future.
At this point I think it’s important to mention the debate on the ‘greenness’ of electric cars in general. While energy is produced by fossil fuel burning power stations the cars are still generating pollution – albeit less than an internal combustion engined car – and so it’s important to see that as much energy as possible that is used to power these vehicles is generated using green technology. An electric car charged by wind turbines and solar panels would definitely live up to it’s claim to be emissions free. You can even factor in that batteries are the most recycled item in the UK to help allay fears that the toxic pollutants found inside them could lead to a massive problem later on.
You may have noticed that I didn’t consider nuclear power in the paragraph above, and to be honest that’s because while the carbon emissions may be non-existent there is still the huge problem of what to do with the radioactive nuclear waste that these plants generate. I’m not saying that there isn’t a place for them in the future, just that we as individuals, businesses, a country and the planet must learn how to both use less energy – through low energy products – and also make sure that we generate it in the cleanest way possible.
And finally, for all you cars lovers – which I am – if transport in general cleans up, and power generation cleans up too; there will still be a place for a V8 powered muscle car in the world that won’t cause anyone any problems!
Jobsworth
It was with some amusement that I watched our local refuse collectors arrive at my place of work and ponder over the large pile of cardboard neatly stacked before them. Let me set the scene. We are a renewables Company striving to reduce carbon emission, energy consumption and where possible recycle. Basically think about others and the environment around us. All good stuff. Back to the story after much deliberation, head scratching and gesticulation the two refuse collectors decided to jump back into their truck and drive off. Rather odd I felt, however having worked as a temp many years ago for Oxford City Council I was aware that different departments would have to be consulted. It was with incredulity that the following day when the rubbish waste collectors arrived they informed me that the volume of cardboard left in our designated recycling bay had made it to the local radio station, and no this is not radio Norwich country. A supervisor was to be despatched to assess whether a crime had been committed. A couple of hours later his head appeared around the door shortly followed by his body. It was explained that the cardboard collectors were an idle bunch and would be given an ear full on his return to base.
Happy days cardboard has now been collected and will soon become a milk carton near you.
Improving the Enviroment the ReGen way.
Welcome to the ReGen Power blog, over the coming weeks we will be bringing you our take on Environmental issues and also discussing the options that you have to reduce your carbon footprint and improve the environment in general where you are!
A little about us so far…Well at the moment we are concentrating the on reducing carbon emission of small/medium business by improving their lighting solutions. We have found that many (generally older) building are still using inefficient T8 and T12 fluorescent tube lighting and we have an easily installed adaptor that allows the fitting of much more efficient T5 tubes. In some cases we have seen up to a 75% reduction in energy usage and we generally see around 50%. You may think that this is small compared to the issues that are currently facing us however around 12% of energy usage in the home and 20% of energy usage in the workplace is lighting. Once this is taken in to account you can see that a real difference can be made to the amount of carbon emitted and also a real saving in cost to the users, either domestic or business, can be achieved for a relatively low cost.
ReGen Power 