Utility Week

Community Know your onions? Utilities spend a lot of time and effort poring over weather data. Whether it's going to rain, and for how long, has a huge impact. The first port of call is usually the Met Office, and why not? These days its forecasts have a good hit rate. The prob- lem is that they're short term; the longer the timeframe, the less accurate they are. Step forward Halwyn Her- rmann, a farmer from Lowood in southeast Queensland, Australia. He reckons he's able to accurately predict the weather 12 months in advance using just an onion and salt, by employing a technique taught to him when he was just a lad by an elderly neighbour. Now 78 years old himself, Halwyn reckons he's predicted the weather correctly since 1958 and he's never been wrong – including floods in 2011. The exact method is a closely guarded secret, but it involves taking a large onion (locally grown, of course) and slicing it in two on the last day of the year. You then run salt into the rings and at a precise time the next day use your naked eye to measure how much water is in each ring to tell you how much rain will fall in each of the following 12 months. The good news for anyone working for a water company is that Mr Herrmann says he is now willing to pass on the secret for fear that the knowl- edge might die with him. And since his neighbour learnt it from his German parents, it looks like it's not restricted to the southern hemisphere. Well worth a trip Down Under, thinks Disconnector. You could do your customers a real favour and hey, if you get to do some sightseeing while you're there, it'd only be fair. Just stick it through the next price review as innovation funding. Bananas idea As regular readers will be aware, Disconnector is a great fan of people who invest a lot of time in solving problems that don't exist. Thus it has been unveiled that Japanese company D&T Farm has managed to produce a banana with an edible skin. Now there's a Holy Grail you never knew existed. You need to start with the right strain of banana, and then it's just a matter of making sure you feed it the right organic nutrients and employ the special "freeze thaw awakening method", which involves slowly cooling the banana growth cells to –60C before thawing them. The result, raved one reviewer, is a banana skin that is "relatively easy to eat". That's got to be worth 648 yen (£4.32) a pop, right? Fuel for thought Since this week seems to be themed around fruit and veg, Disconnector feels the need to flag up a world first by Qantas, in which it flew a Boeing Dreamliner from Los Angeles to Melbourne powered by a blended biofuel. The 15-hour trans-Pacific flight was made using 24,000 litres of biofuel blend devel- oped by Canadian agri-tech firm Agrisoma Biosciences, using a type of mustard seed. Qantas estimates it saved around 18,000kg in carbon emissions, a 7 per cent reduc- tion on aviation fuel. The only snag is that one hectare of seeds produces just 400 litres of biofuel, so that single flight needed an area of farmland bigger than the Vatican City to produce enough mustard seeds. Given the severe pressure on agricultural land already exerted by population growth – and soon to be exacerbated by climate change – it is little surprise that some environ- mentalists are campaigning to ban biofuels derived from food crops. Disconnector Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: janegray@ fav-house.com; Associate editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@ fav-house.com Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; Deputy news editor: Katey Pigden, t: 01342 332082, e: kateypigden@fav-house.com; Content editor: Alice Cooke, t: 01342 332102, e: alicecooke@fav-house.com; Energy correspondent: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@fav-house.com; Reporter: Clare Ruel, t: 01342 332069, e: clareruel@fav-house.com Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Sales executive: Ben Hammond, e: benhammond@fav-house.com. t: 01342 332116; Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e; sophieabbott@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amandabarnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. 2,500 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2017 Membership subscriptions: UK £669 per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the editor, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk UTILITY WEEK | 2ND - 8TH MARCH 2018 | 31 Hugh Taylor @RoadnightTaylor Dos & Don'ts to avoid grid-related pitfalls. Do #8 Have a grid application submitted by a consultant who represents you on a success- fee only basis. If a consultant recommends you submit an application and won't back their advice, ask yourself why. StewhorneCA @StewHorne_CA The smart meter roll-out is a monumental task. Energy suppliers need to address consumer issues before the roll-out ramps up. Greg Jackson @g__j According to BEIS submissions, more energy suppliers support a price cap than oppose it. They also tend to be the ones with best customer ratings at Which?, USwitch, Trustpilot and MSE. Dustin Benton @dustin_benton "The government is fully committed to ensuring the maintenance of high standards of consumer, worker and environmental protection in trade agreements." A good pledge from @DefraGovUK's Agriculture Bill consultation William Marchant @richonlyinname -8C yet toasty. I can confirm that the secret to staying warm in the central European winter is to wear five layers: 1) T-shirt 2) Jumper 3) Fleece 4) Coat 5) Building sandbag.org.uk @sandbagorguk Feeling cold? Wind+sun is still supplying lots of electricity! Despite what some say, intense Europe-wide cold-snaps without wind+sun are rare! @energy_charts @Sustainable2050 @UE @WindEurope @SolarPowerEU #BeastFromTheEast Dept for BEIS @beisgovuk Energy Minister @claireperrymp is introducing the #EnergyPriceCap law into Parliament this afternoon, saving 11m households money on their bills http://socsi.in/WUwr4 Gill Furniss MP @GillFurnissMP 4m households living in fuel poverty yet the Govt continues to cut vital support for those most in need. @Labour will introduce an emergency price cap will insulate four million homes so that nobody has to endure living in a cold home. #nocoldhomes Top Tweets

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