Recent reports indicate that decaying household waste could produce a gas, which if harnessed and fed into the National Grid system would provide up to 20% of Britain’s requirements, providing a way can be found to connect this gas into the national gas system.
Sterecycle, a company backed by Goldman Sachs and Fidelity International, believes it has the answer with an autoclave recycling plant which treats waste with steam under high pressure. This is similar to a process used in hospitals for sterilisation and can reduce unwanted materials to fibrous compost.
From this it is hoped that the gas biomethane can be captured and linked to the gas network. If successful, this process could make a significant contribution to the hole left by the reduction of North Sea reserves.
One of the major advantages claimed by Sterecycle is that the waste does not need a high degree of sorting. The company hopes to achieve sufficient investment to build the plant to carry out the process of producing the gas, which is in a way particularly interesting as most similar activities are directed towards the generation of electricity.

With so many deals on offer in today’s energy market, from internet tariffs to capped deals, there are many ways of getting cheaper energy.   Some of the simple steps and typical savings are – If you have both gas and electricity, get them from the same supplier and you can save around £50.   If you currently pay by quarterly cash and cheque, switching to monthly direct debit will typically save you £60.   Using a price comparison service to find and switch to your cheapest possible tariff can save you a further £250 a year.    If you are on a pre-payment meter, switch to your cheapest tariff by shopping around or by using a useful price comparison service.    Typical savings are between £50 and £100 a year.

Using a price comparison service is easy and free.   The service uses your postcode and current supply details to calculate how much energy you are currently using and how much it would cost if you switched.   The sites search the whole market in seconds so that you don’t need to spend all day with the phone book talking to suppliers.

Many people use them to find discount and internet tariffs.    Services are available on the phone or on the web.   You just need your postcode and a copy of your latest bill to handto do a comparison.   If you want to switch to direct debit you will need your bank details.   The average energy bill currently stands at £1,247 a year but the cheapest bill costing just £952 for the same usage levels, switching therefore can save around £300 per year.

Labour saving electrical devices make it easier to keep your garden looking trim, but it is important to be aware of the dangerswhen taking electricity outside.     A good garden feels like and extension to your home – and many of us feel as natural about using electricity there as we would indoors.   However, electricity isn’t quite as at home in the garden as we are: it doesn’t mix well with water, causing short circuits and fire risks, and while power tools are a great way to keep gardens looking trim, electric cables and sharp blades can also be a bad combination.

According to The Electricity Safety Council, around 300,000 people end up in Accident and Emergency every year after having an accident in the garden, with a significant proportion injured while using electrical equipment.   There are some very easy steps to take to protect yourself.   Before using any electrical equipment, check it over thoroughly, looking for damage to plugs or cables and rfeplacing if necessary.

Never use any electrical device outside that isn’t plugged in to a residual current device (RCD), a circuit breaker that acts as a safety switch between power and appliance.   As soon as the RCD detects any interruption or problem with the current it cuts off the power.    RCD’s from most electrical stores for around £12.00

Elderly homeowners wanting to get at some of the cash tied up in their homes have less choice as lenders pull out of the market.   In the past few weeks, four major equity release providers – Northern Rock plus Newcastle, Saffron and Coventry building societies – have withdrawn from the market.   Before the credit crunch there were more than 20 providers; now there are 12 and only nine are still actively offering lifetime mortgages.   Mostof the market is concentrated on two major providers: Aviva and Prudential.

New figures from Safe Home Income Plans [Ship], which covers most equity release providers: show the number of customers taking out plans in the past three months was marginally down, the average amount released by customers has increased substantially from £38,189 in the second three months of the year to £45,434 in the third quarter.

Equity release is a way for elderly people to get access to the money they’ve built up in their homes without havingt move.   The usual way of doing this is withlifetime mortgages.   With these, the homeowner takes out a fixed-rate mortgage on their home, releasing some of it’s value.   Interest is charged and added to the loan, but is not repaid until both the homeowners die or have to go into rtesidential care.   The , their home is sold and the loan is repaid from their estate

House prices are now higher than they were a year ago as the property market starts to rise.     There are now clear signs that buyers believe that the housing slump is over.       In London asking prices in some areas are now at a record level as strong demand and some shortage of houses on the market fuel increased prices.