Royal Mail's electric mini vans: The Reengineer Monitor #50

Mine water pride, wind power record - and more!

Photo by Royal Mail.

First of all, don’t miss my story for The Guardian about highly energy efficient homes in Handsworth, Birmingham that are heated with heat pumps. Researchers sought to understand how much strain the homes put on the grid and found that they actually draw less energy than they initially expected, based on Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings for the properties.

Heating and cooling

BBC News has a great story on a mini data centre, installed in a brick shed, that heats an Essex couple’s home. The device contains more than 500 computers and has reduced the pair’s energy bills to around £40 per month, down from £375 per month.