DYK-2: Electricity to domestic customers and SME businesses has risen on average by 6% per annum over the last 10 years. Based on UK government statistics 2016. What do you think the future holds?

DYK-3: In Feb 2018 Nissan will release in the UK the new Nissan Leaf electric vehicle (EV) that can also export storaged electricity back into the house to power appliances, making a truly revolutionary way of having an integrated household sustainable energy system. An electric vehicle has no polluting local emissions.

DYK-4: You can switch electricity supplier to an organisation that provides 100% renewable energy (ie. no carbon emissions and no local pollution from their electricity). Consider Ecotricity or Good Energy or Bulb Energy.

DYK-5: That Battery technology has advanced dramatically over the last 5 years. The old premise that renewable energy is too intermittent is a thing of the past. Consider Moixa Energy or Telsa Power Wall

DYK-6: The Telsa electric vehicle is possibly one of the best production cars every designed. Take a look at this video. We are just at the very beginning of the disruptive transformation that will be Solar + Battery + EV + green grid electricity. Keep watching!

DYK-7: NASA provide some excellent evidence and real facts about climate change. Click here. Also see the latest update on global temperature impact for 2017.

DYK-8: You can take a look at the UK and Europe's current electricity and greenhouse gas emissions situation in near real-time. Fascinating and tells a real story. Click here. Also take a look at the UK specific position.

DYK-9: Research has shown that using a phone App to monitor your energy consumption can easily save over 10% of the annual costs. And has a payback in less than 2 years. Take a look at the 'Smappee' monitoring system, which can monitor: grid electricity consumption, solar generation, electric vehicle consumption, gas and water comsumption and display in an easy to view format on your phone/tablet/computer. This then allows you to take simple actions to reduce the consumption and/or change the time of energy use. Click here for details. The UK government's smart metering programme won't give you anything as useful as this.

DYK-10: A large proportion of household energy use is to heat water for the shower. Have you considered changing your shower head to an aerator type. It mixes air with the water but retains a good showering water jet - it really does work. It reduces energy and water consumption for showering by upto 40%. It only costs around £20 and the payback period is less than 5 months as it reduces both your gas bill and your water/sewerage bill. Click here for details. Supplied by 'Every Drop is Precious'

DYK-11: The Sun is truly amazing. 960,000 Earths could fit inside the Sun. It is 330,000 times heavier than Earth. The inner temperature is 15 million degC and 5600 degC on the surface. 70% is hydrogen and 28% is helium. It determines our warmth, solar renewable energy, wind renewable energy and photosynthesis on Earth. It takes 8.3 minutes for that light and heat to hit Earth. The Sun has burned half of its fuel already but don’t worry there is another 5 billion years of hydrogen left- so it is pretty sustainable! See more facts. See fantastic photos. We just love the Sun.

DYK-12: The price of solar PV systems have been dropping phenomenally fast. Over 60% drop from 2009 to 2017 (£3600/kW to £1150/kW of system capacity; for large scale systems) . And it is forecast to drop a further 50% to year 2025! As for battery storage at present it costs around £450/kWh of capacity (large scale) and there is around 2GW already installed around the world. But the forecast by 2030 is for £150/kWh and to be over 175GW installed. That is a massive 67% cost reduction expectation and an x87 fold expansion! Watch this space. See more about this at IRENA.

DYK-13: You can buy British made solar PV panels. Costing around 63pence per Watt of capacity. Click here for more information. Bimble Solar also sell complete kits of parts but remember to use a qualified electrician to install.

DYK-14: Don't be fooled by the big energy suppliers offering you their super new green tariffs. They use wording like "we will match 100% of the electricity you use with the energy generated from renewable sources" this is just paperwork and doesn't actually lead to any new renewable energy. Try to switch to an energy supplier who is actually creating new/extra renewable energy and reducing their dependance upon fossil fuels (especially coal). Look at their grid mix of emissions.

DYK-15: Now Cities around the world are beginning to do the right thing (even when confronted by an inactive federal/national government). Take a look at what Vancouver in Canada are starting: click here

DYK-16: An interesting 2 minute video about how refining fossil fuels for transportation uses an awkful lot of electricity. Far better to use the electricity to charge EVs directly. Click here.

DYK-17: Take a look at the new Nissan Leaf for 2018. Not only does it have 230 miles range; but it will allow reverse energy flow from the car battery to power the house property. True energy intergration. Exciting!

DYK-18: The Mole Valley area has one of the highest electricity use rates in the whole of the UK. It is in the top 30 worst highest users of electricity per capita out of over 600 local authority areas. Similarly Surrey as a whole has a very high consumption rate (kWh per year per person). Based on UK government statistics 2016.

DYK-19: Another 'Did You Know' coming soon. Keep reading. Contact us if you have additional informative resources you would like displaying here.

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