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UtILItY WeeK | 17th - 23rd OctOber 2014 | 31 Community Disconnector Editor: ellen bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen.bennett@fav-house.com; News editor: Jillian Ambrose, t: 01342 332061, e: jillian.ambrose@fav-house.com; Associate news editor: Mathew beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@fav-house. com; Energy correspondent: Joyeeta Basu, t: 01342 332110, e: joyeeta.basu@fav-house. com; Insights editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: jane.gray@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, e: paul.newton@fav-house.com; Business development manager: ed roberts, t: 01342 332067, e: ed.roberts@fav-house.com; Sales executive: hayley cronin, t: 01342 332077, e: hayley.cronin@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda barnes, e: amanda.barnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Subscriptions: UK £577 per year, Overseas £689 per year, t: 020 8955 7045. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: buxton Press, Palace road, buxton, derbyshire SK17 6Ae. Published by: Faversham house Ltd, Windsor court, Wood Street, east Grinstead, West Sussex rh19 1UZ Wee trouble How far should you go to do your bit for the planet? That's what Disconnector wants to know. Putting a brick in the cistern to reduce the water used in every flush seems reasonable, thinks the great man. Treating water is an energy-intensive activity, so reducing our water consumption makes sense for financial and environmental reasons. Two students at the Univer- sity of East Anglia, Debs Torr and Chris Dobson, have decided to up the stakes on the water conservation front, however. They've worked out that the UK could save 720 million litres of water a year if people took their first pee of the morning in the shower. Yup, you heard it right. They've consulted with a biology professor and there's no hygiene consideration because urine is sterile. As a first step they are try- ing to recruit the university's 15,000-strong student body to the cause, estimating this would save £125,000 a year. They've issued their appeal in the form of the Go with the Flow Chal- lenge, which they hope will go viral in the same manner as the Ice Bucket Challenge. Hmm. Somehow Disconnec- tor doubts there will be quite the same number of celebs queuing up to have a go at that one. Bright idea As far as the great man is concerned, things have to get Disconnector pretty bad before it's deemed socially acceptable to relieve yourself in the shower simply to save energy, and the fact is that there is a host of more mundane things we could do first before we come to that pass (as it were). Though whether it's quite as easy as British Gas suggested in a Tweet this week – "check the brightness setting on your TV. Turning it down could save up to £100 a year on energy bills" – is another matter. Unless you're running a cinema, that seems a lot of power to illuminate a telly. According to Npower's website, a 21in TV uses one unit of elec- tricity for 10 hours of use, which works out at about 20p. Even if you watched TV for 10 hours a day, 365 days a year, you'd still have change from eighty quid. What are people using their TVs for that they can save a hundred pounds by turning the brightness down? I think we should be told. Blurred lines With rain lashing the country, heralding the imminent onset of winter, expect plenty of lists to appear in the press purport- ing to tell readers how to save money on their energy bills. The Telegraph stole a march on the competition this week with six "weird and wacky ways" to save energy. Mostly this comprised gadgets such as the "radia- tor booster" (an array of small fans in a box placed above your radiator) and the "wood stove fan" (sits on your wood stove to circulate the air around the room), but if all that fails, the article suggested simply covering your single-glazed windows with clingfilm. The great man sees no rea- son why this low-tech solution wouldn't work as a means of reducing draughts and provid- ing a barrier of insulation, but it would also make for a depressing living environment. You wouldn't be able to open the windows, and when you looked out of them it would be like viewing the world through an isolation tent. Bad call We can't all be well off, and for many people it really is a struggle to find the where- withal to pay the gas and electric. But surely few people can have been as desperate as Alisdair David Swi, who tried to extort £125 from his parents by pretending he had been kidnapped so that he could pay his overdue utility bills. Swi, 35, sent a series of desperate texts to his mother, Fiona, claiming he had been abducted and would be seri- ously hurt unless she coughed up a ransom. His mum endured what Sheffield Crown Court heard was "the most ter- rifying night of her life" before contacting the police, who went to his flat and found him in bed with his girlfriend. He got an 18-month stretch for blackmail, later reduced to nine months on appeal. 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2013 Subscriptions: UK £577 per year, Overseas £689 per year fhcustomerservices@ abacusemedia.com Emily Gosden @emilygosden Are my ears deceiving me or did Mark Todd of energyhelpline tell BBC Hinkley could add £200/yr to bills? I know it's expensive, but really?! Rich Hall @richonlyinname Tell a Geordie colleague we're getting an interconnector with Scandinavia. "Norway?" I tell you it's true, I'm not making it up. Jillian Ambrose @JAmbrose_UW And now for some 'conscious uncoupling' news: REA and Solar Trade Association to break ties in Jan 2015 James Beard @JamesBeardREA All good things come to an end! I'll miss @LeonieGreene @soniakdunlop @thesolarblogger & co but I'm sure both TAs have bright futures ahead. Leonie Greene @LeonieGreene We'll be launching the rebranded @thesolartrade from our new offices early next year. Big do on the 4th December - do join us - invite soon. Joss Garman @jossgarman Remember those headlines about the crazy Brussels handouts to big energy companies to run dirty coal stations? No, neither do I. Greenpeace UK @GreenpeaceUK Thanks LEGO for doing the right thing and walking away from Shell! Now let's #SaveTheArctic jessica lennard @JessicaLennard Reserving judgement for the speech but strong suspicion @Owen_PatersonMP thinks DSR means systematically cutting people off. Jennifer Webber @jennifercwebber Pickles now in control of 50 wind apps. Latest intervention is to stop a local council making a decision. Localism? Jane Gray @janefagray @ofgem seeks to withdraw from "invasive regulation" & move to principal-based regula- tion, says Nolan #uwcongress Top Tweets