Tag Archives: education

Biogas Set To Power Our Homes

Biogas was once the domain of third world countries, but people at build-a-biogas-plant.com show that as energy costs skyrocket and new biogas designs come on the market, even people in a Western city can benefit from a biogas digester.

Biogas Set To Power Our Homes

Biogas is produced when organic matter is broken down by bacteria. The organic matter could be cow dung, but equally it could be the food scraps we throw away every day in our homes. Instead of these scraps going to landfill, they could be put far better use and go into a digester to produce biogas.

The biogas is made up of a large amount of methane, and methane is the important ingredient in biogas. Like natural-gas, biogas can be burned and used to heat water, create lighting or run our cooking stoves and it can even be used to run generators which produce electricity.

“We have been overwhelmed by the response to access the biogas information,” said Simon, a staffer at www.build-a-biogas-plant.com. “Our digester designs cater for individual’s household use, but larger systems are also available for communities, farms and other commercial businesses”.

In the United States alone, billions of tonnes of manure are produced each year by millions of cattle, pigs and chickens. Imagine how much electricity would be produced if all this dung was processed in biogas digesters? Not only would it replace a lot of natural gas but the residue makes a wonderful fertilizer (often better than commercially prepared products).

Via EPR Network
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RWE Npower Sparks Interest In Engineering

The npower enthuse day recently rolled into Cramlington Learning Village in Northumberland, where over 50 students took part in the one day educational experience. The students, aged 13 to 14, participated in a range of interactive activities designed to help them think about the impact science and engineering has on their daily lives.

The students were encouraged to think of ways to improve existing products or design a completely

new concept, before considering the very real problem of how people can meet and reduce the UK’s future demand for energy. These activities were followed by a ‘facts and fiction’ session where the students were given the opportunity to meet with engineering staff from npower. Throughout the npower enthuse day, the students took part in a series of hands-on activities relating to the power industry.

Enthuse, which is part of npower’s Brighter Futures Programme, is a five year scheme designed to inspire and engage students aged 12-14 years old in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Head teacher, Mr Wise, Cramlington Community High School, said, “The variety of activities gave the students an excellent insight into what it would feel like to be an engineer. Also, the opportunity to meet with staff from npower has really brought today’s activities to life and gave the students a great introduction into the world of work.”

Dave Carlton, project manager of the environmental scoping for Blyth Power Stationsaid: “The main purpose of today has been to inspire students in science and engineering and share with them the exciting opportunities that the energy industry has to offer.”

In 2008 alone, npower enthuse days reached out to over 3400 students across the UK and this number is continuing to rise throughout 2009.

About npower
npower is one of the UK’s largest electricity supplier and draws on 50 years experience in supplying electricity and gas. npower offers a range of essential home and business services to 6.6 million customers across the UK.

RWE npower has been awarded the prestigious CommunityMark from Business in the Community (BITC). npower is the only utility business, amongst 21 other companies in the UK, to receive this accolade. The CommunityMark is a new BITC standard which has been created to recognise companies that are good investors in local communities and who have brought about real and positive changes.

Via EPR Network
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