Interesting Facts

According to a  study by the Energy Saving Trust, women like it hotter - in the home.  ( Women prefer the home to be 24°C on average, while men prefer a cooler 19°C, but each extra degree costs around £85 a year for a three-bed semi. However, it's women who win the “thermostat war".  Guys!  It's not a war, you just want to keep us happy!)

The Bill and Melinda Gate's foundation has managed to help develop a waste plant that converts the sludge from sewers, which contains solid human waste (pooh) into drinkable water and bioenergy. (The Janicki Omniprocessor, designed and built by Janicki Bioenergy, an engineering firm based north of Seattle, could be a solution to poor sanitation in developing countries, which kills around 700,000 children every year. Bill Gates trusts it enough to drink a glass of extracted water, so ... Maybe a smaller household version could be created, and we can all benefit.)

The EU has already banned powerful vacuum cleaners, sparking a rush to buy the last remaining models with motors above the new EU limit of 1,600 watts, but now Europe has its sights on other domestic appliances. (Toasters, kettles and juicers will have their power consumption reduced. Other items under the spotlight include heated greenhouses, power tools, gym equipment, food mixers, rice cookers, blenders, deep fat fryers and believe it or not aquarium lights and filters. I guess that's what you call pulling the plug.)

A regular sized cup of coffee (about 5oz) can contain anything from 65 to 125 mg of caffeine. It all depends on the type of coffee and how it's been made: On average there is 110-150mg for filter coffee, 65-125mg for percolated, and 40-80 mg for instant. Typically an 8 oz cup of Starbucks coffee contains165 milligrams of caffeine. (I looked into this following yesterday's IF, and the amount of caffeine in energy drinks also varies. They can contain between 70 and 200 mg. A Dr. Pepper gives you 61mg, and a can of Coke provides 50mg, but according to Web MD, a full can of 150mg Rockstar energy shot contains a massive 229 mg! That's not a drink, that's medicine.)

The supermarket chain Morrisons has banned under-16s from buying caffeine-infused energy drinks. (The ban will only apply to drinks like Red Bull, that contain at least 150mg of caffeine per litre and has been introduced amid health fears about extreme caffeine intake by children, and staff have been instructed to challenge any customers who look under 25.)

According to a poll conducted by Populsus, even banks are more popular than the 'big six' energy giants in the UK. (Only the tobacco industry, and payday loan firms were less popular. Supermarkets were the most positively viewed companies with a "Like" rating of 58.6. They can't have included chocolate manufacturers in the list!) Source

According to Ofgem, the electricity and gas regulator in the UK, at least £200 million worth of power is stolen annually. (Of course the energy companies don't suffer, they simply add £7 to every householder’s bill to cover the cost, but what's more annoying is that over a third of the stolen energy is used to run illegal cannabis farms.  Cannabis factories typically use 12,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month - 40 times more than the average home uses. So all you pot smoking hippies out there who think you are saving the planet, think again.) Source 

In France, from July 1, a new law will require shops and offices in France to turn off their lights one hour after the last worker leaves a building.   ( Shop windows may only be lit from 7 a.m. or an hour before opening time, and  shop window displays must be turned off at 1 a.m.   Exceptions will be made during Christmas and other significant events, as well as in some tourist and cultural areas. I wonder what they will do with the Eiffel tower.) Source

There are over 26 energy companies in the UK. (According to Which , the average saving when switching gas and electricity is £217, but there are over 400 tariffs to choose from.) The energy companies I could find are:- Airtricity Atlantic British Gas Co-operative Energy Ebico Ecotricity EDF Eon First Utility Good Energy Green Energy UK iSupply Energy LoCO2 M&S Energy Npower Ovo Energy Power NI Sainsbury's Energy Scottish Hydro Scottish Power Southern Electric Spark Energy SSE Swalec Utilita Utility Warehouse

Researchers at the University of California have developed a new transparent solar cell. (This means that instead of unsightly solar panels on roofs, windows in homes and other buildings could be set up to generate electricity while still allowing people to see outside.  I can't wait!)

In a report entitled "First Steps Research", nutritionists have worked out that the daily energy expended by an average toddler is the equivalent to the energy an adult would expend during 83 rounds in a boxing ring. (In the same research the equivalent energy would be expended if an adult ran 30 miles, played 3 football matches, cycled 82 miles at 12-14mph, climbed 2,980 metres, or rowed for 6 hours. I doubt any parent will be surprised at this.)

Production of 100, 75 and 60 watt light bulbs has ceased in the US and Europe. (From 2014, incandescent bulbs of 40 watts or above will be banned in the US. Supporters of this move say that by replacing the old fashioned lamps with more efficient models domestic energy consumption for lighting will be reduced by 60 per cent in the EU alone. That's the equivalent of 30 million tons of CO2 pollution every year. What was really funny is that when they announced that these bulbs (which we haven't used for years) were being phased out, people went out and bought loads to stock up. Demand was highest in Germany, Austria, Poland and central Europe.  Germany surprised me as they usually care about the environment.  The reason given was that people felt that compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which use a fifth of the energy needed for a conventional bulb, give off a sickly light.  Aw diddums.)

One of the world’s most powerful inland wind turbines is being erected at Emden in Germany. (The turbine is manufactured using 1500 cubic meters of concrete and 180 tonnes of steel.  The top of the turbine weighs 700 tonnes and it should be able to supply enough energy for a small town.  1000 such turbines should be able to supply one third of Germany's household energy needs.)

According to Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen, Germany got more than 10 percent of its energy in 2009 from renewable sources. (The sources include, the renewable sources included biomass, geo-thermal, hydro-electric, solar and wind power. The goal is to make that 18 percent by 2020.)

A club in Rotterdam in the Netherlands is giving new meaning to the phrase "an electric atmosphere". They convert the dance movements to electricity, which is used to light up the dance floor. (Seemingly special circuits capture the vibrations of the dancers and transform them into electricity to power the bulbs. The name of the club is The Club Watt. Coming to a gym near you, soon.)

According to Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the respected International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, oil on which modern civilisation depends is running out far faster than previously predicted. (He predicts that global production is likely to peak in about 10 years – at least a decade earlier than most governments had estimated. As he said, "we have to leave oil before oil leaves us".)

Only 2% of gas in the UK comes from Russia. (Britain still uses its North Sea reserves for most of its gas supply, supplementing it with imports from Norway. However, that hasn't stopped the wholesale price of gas from rocketing 26% in the last three days whilst the continuing gas wrangle between Russia and Ukraine has reduced supply to Europe. I guess it was just too good an opportunity to miss.)

According to recent figures, gas and electricity prices in Britain have climbed twice as fast as the European Union average. (According to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) there's been a 29.7 percent rise in utility prices in the past year in the UK, compared to a 15 percent increase in the EU. We don't call it "rip of Britain" for nothing.)

Low energy light bulbs contain small amounts of mercury. (Official advice from the Department of the Environment states that if a low-energy bulb is smashed, the room needs to be vacated for at least 15 minutes.)

Millions of homes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland turned off their lights for five minutes at 8 p.m.