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UTILITY WEEK | 27TH NOVEMBER - 3RD DECEMBER 2015 | 31 Community Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen. bennett@fav-house.com; News editor: Jillian Ambrose, t: 01342 332061, e: jillian.ambrose@ fav-house.com; Assistant editor (insights): Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: jane.gray@fav-house. com; Associate insights editor: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@fav-house. com; Research analyst: Vidhu Dutt, t: 01342 332026, e: vidhu.dutt@fav-house.com; Reporters: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080; e: lois.vallely@fav-house.com and Lucinda Dann, t: 01342 332083; e: lucinda.dann@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Richard Powell, t: 01342 332062, e: richard.powell@fav-house.com; Business development executive: Sarah Wood, t: 01342 332077, e: sarah.wood@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amanda.barnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership subscriptions: UK £577 per year, overseas £689 per year, t: 020 8955 7045 or email membership sales manager Paul Tweedale: paultweedale@fav-house.com. 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 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2014 Membership subscriptions: UK £577 per year. Overseas £689 per year. Email: paultweedale@fav-house.com Top Tweets Fired up to lose weight It's comforting to know that it's not just kids in Britain who struggle with their weight. The whole world's kids are turning into fatties, it seems. In Kemerovo in Russia, the authorities are financing a local TV channel to run a competi- tion in which contestants try to lose weight using a variety of diets and exercise regimes and are rewarded for success with coal. The more weight you lose, the more coal you get. Governor Aman Tuleyev proudly points out that the coal-rich region has the highest quality stuff in the world – lots of it – so it has no shortage of coal to give away. It hasn't been revealed what the ratio of coal to flab will be, but presumably it will favour coal. A similar show is currently running on TV in Dubai called "Your Weight in Gold", where contestants get a gram of gold for every gram of weight they lose. Looks like they've got more loose change lying around in Dubai than in Siberia. Disconnector is not sure what would motivate British kids, should Channel 5 ever buy in to the franchise and make a series for TV here. Aer Amber Rudd's "reset" of energy this week we'll have plenty of coal going begging, but let's face it, that's not going to swing it with the yoof. Gold would certainly do the trick, but the great man suspects there's little of that going spare. Austerity and all that. Maybe a year's supply of free burgers from McDonald's and a promise to be le alone to eat them in peace? That's all kids really want. Don't take it lying down It is said there are two things certain in this world: death and taxes. Well perhaps they should add utility bills to the list, since even being dead is no excuse for not paying up, at least not in County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland it isn't. A post doing the rounds on the internet shows a photo of a letter sent by Electric Ireland to "the occupant, Killiney Grave- yard, Castlegregory". It informs said occupant that he or she needs to register their account "to ensure the electricity sup- ply remains connected". As an added incentive, Electric Ireland reminds the recalcitrant potential customer that "a visit by a networks technician to your premises will incur a minimum charge of €70.00 + VAT". On the last point, at least, Disconnector is confident that Electric Ireland has got its facts wrong. When it comes to graveyards, everyone gets at least one free visit. Flower power News reaches Disconnector that researchers at Linkoping University in Sweden have shown it is possible to create an electric circuit within a plant. Scientists have woven elec- tronics into the vascular system of living plants for the first time in a breakthrough that could allow them to convert photo- synthesis into power. The team wired up a garden rose by setting the flower into a basin of water containing a soluble polymer that conducts electricity. As the rose sucked up the water it also took in the electronic material, which then integrated into the flower's own biology. It is the same process that allows flowers to be col- oured by dipping the stems in dyed water. Once inside the plant, the polymer was designed to self- organise to form a wire with the help of the ions that are already present in the flower. The team showed it was possible to cre- ate an electric circuit using the embedded wire. Lead author professor Magnus Berggren said: "Now we can really start talking about 'power plants' – we can place sensors in plants and use the energy formed in the chlorophyll." Given that the government is closing the nation's coal plants without offering investors much of an incentive to build gas plants to replace them, perhaps we'd better hope the Swedes get some joy in making flower power a reality. Aer all, if there's one thing we're world class at, it's gardens. Disconnector Craig Jones @craigvjones Coal phase out by 2025? Don't buy hoop-la. All but 2 due to close by 2023 anyway. More prediction than intervention #coal #energy Martyn Williams @MartynWilliams2 @craigvjones more misdirection than new direction? Emma Pinchbeck @ELPinchbeck Wonder if we will hear anything about offshore wind in today's @AmberRudd_MP speech, as well as gas? Would be good. David Powell @powellds "I will ban one fossil fuel IF AND ONLY IF I'm able to replace it with another fossil fuel," says Climate Secretary. Richard Howard @RichardHowardPX Coal phase out: DECC 2014 figures show most coal gone by early 2020s, but could linger until 2030 without backstop. William Marchant @richonlyinname Delays afoot in Kirby Misspelledtown. Or possibly Kirby Misperton. Will it be fracked? Well, not tonight Josephine. Labour Energy @labourenergy @lisanandy How many renewable energy companies must close, how many jobs lost before govt end their assault on UK clean energy industries? Mike@JBP_Energy @MikeJBP_Energy CfD policy has now killed off small #renewable energy companies, only big companies can survive the subsidy changes Jon Ferris @JonFerris2 $9bn. 160MW. If these figures are correct, Morocco's desert mega-project makes Hinkley Point C look cheap. Richard Black @_richardblack PoW & @charlottechurch get flak for saying #climate change caused Syrian conflict; but neither did. Both said it was a factor #strawmanalert