1.2 Pre-privatisation

1.2 Pre-privatisation Bruno Prior Mon, 14/12/2020 - 01:47
  1. We (Summerleaze) installed a heat pump to heat our new offices in the 70s. It minimised energy-consumption and maximised output by delivering so little heat that people wore thick jumpers and rushed to get their work done.
  2. We worked with Warwick University in the mid 80s to develop technology to purify and liquefy landfill gas to power our trucks. Unfortunately the oil-price collapsed and made the technology uneconomic just as it was reaching fruition. C’est la vie for entrepreneurs. We did not ask for nor deserve to be insulated from that risk. We just wanted to be able to profit where we got the risk right. That was not straightforward in a nationalised energy sector.
  3. We re-applied our knowledge of landfill gas to the production of electricity, and commissioned our first renewable power station in 1988. This preceded privatisation. We were only able to sell (“spill”) our electricity by the good grace of the local electricity board at a price determined by them.