Customers with renewable energy company ScottishPower saved enough power in the past two months to watch the Christmas movie, Elf around 50,000 times over, the firm revealed today.
Around 30,000 people have signed up to its ‘Power Saver’ initiative. This sees push notifications on mobile phones ask them to use less electricity for around 1-3 hours at peak times – Part of the electricity system operator (ESO) for Great Britain’s Demand Flexibility Service (DFS).
During seven national DFS events, running across November and December, around 70% of those signed up took part. This saw a total turndown saving of 24 megawatt hours (MWh) – enough power to watch the favourite festive film 50,000 times.
Rob McGaughey, ScottishPower’s Head of Smart Heat and Cities said: “Our customers know that the best way to save festive power is to turn down appliances for at least an hour.
“By managing their energy consumption, they reduce their electricity costs while earning rewards like gift cards through our Power Saver scheme. This not only translates to financial savings, but also crucially contributes to the more efficient use of energy resources – better for the grid and, ultimately, better for the planet.”
Demand flexibility services are being trialled to adjust power consumption at some of the busiest periods of the day. When millions of households are using energy at the same time, the UK is often forced to turn to coal and gas stations to meet this additional energy need.
By using less energy at peak times (or shifting usage to other periods of the day), customers can help ease pressure on the energy network, meaning that the need for energy from fossil fuel sources can be lessened.
This can involve simple actions such as turning off or avoiding the use of appliances for set periods, ranging from washing machines and ovens to electric showers, temporarily pausing electric vehicle (EV) charging.
Timing energy use in this way can also make the best use of available renewable power and keep the grid balanced.
LifeCare Edinburgh grateful for boost to help support local older people through another difficult winter
LifeCare Edinburgh has received £10,000 from ScottishPower in lieu of the energy company’s annual Christmas party. This significant donation will help the charity deliver its safe and essential care to hundreds of local older people struggling to cope through another difficult winter.
Set-up in 1941, LifeCare Edinburgh has supported older people living across the city for over 80-years. The organisation supports around 1,000 individuals annually including those suffering with dementia, mobility issues, those experiencing isolation and loneliness, food poverty, mental health problems and offers dedicated support for carers. Services include day centres, registered outreach, help at home, hot meal delivery, companionship and community engagement activities.
LifeCare’s vital services have not stopped through the pandemic. The committed team has worked tirelessly to safely deliver essential care, practical help and companionship activities to ensure older people received the support they needed to stay physically and mentally well.
The charity also launched several important new initiatives, such as their hugely successful meals on wheels service, specifically designed to help support the most isolated and vulnerable.
Sue Freeth, Chief Executive at LifeCare, (above) said: “A huge thank you to everyone at ScottishPower for their generous support in lieu of their Christmas party. LifeCare is an established and trusted charity that has delivered vital services for local older people for 80 years.
“We deliver essential care and practical support to people who simply couldn’t survive without it. Operating across the city, we enable older people to remain living independent full healthy lives and enjoy the ‘zest in life’ in their later years.
“We are presently receiving unprecedented referrals and this wonderful donation of £10,000 will make a significant difference to the people we support. We are very grateful to the ScottishPower team for choosing LifeCare.”
Sheila Duncan, ScottishPower HR Director, said: “Covid-19 continues to impact lives across the board with some groups in society experiencing greater challenges than most of us could imagine. Following the positive feedback from last year’s donations, we are delighted and extremely proud to be able to donate our festive budget again to 15 charities including LifeCare Edinburgh.
“These donations will make a huge difference to these charities and help make a bigger impact in our communities. Thank you to all of the ScottishPower employees who voted and thanks to the Employee Networks who got actively involved this year”.
LifeCare Edinburgh is a registered charity and relies on the support of its funders. The charity is currently experiencing unprecedented levels of referrals.
Over 7,000 second year students from across Scotland will compete to build the best green hydrogen powered Lego vehicle over the next eight weeks
Pupils have the opportunity to test drive the low carbon fuel and hear more on the importance of green hydrogen in achieving Net Zero targets
Winners from each city will compete in the Grand Final in Glasgow during COP26
Students across Scotland are taking part in a unique challenge in the run up to COP26 – designing, building and racing a green hydrogen-fuelled vehicle of their own design.
The Scottish School’s Hydrogen Challenge will see groups of three students collaborate to build the most efficient hydrogen-powered vehicle in under two hours. Vehicles that travel the furthest on the zero emission fuel will take part in a Grand Final in Glasgow during COP26.
Over 7,000 second year pupils from Scotland are expected to take part as the challenge visits Fort William, Wick, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, Stirling, Edinburgh and Glasgow in the run up to the climate change summit.
Regional finals are taking place in each of Scotland’s cities with the top three teams from each being entered into the Grand Final with a chance to win a Lego Robot Inventor amongst other prizes.
Today, 3rd September, marks the first of the regional finals. Schools from across the Highlands have been competing for a place to race at COP26 over the past two weeks with the final contenders racing their hydrogen powered vehicles in Inverness at Millburn Academy today.
The challenge is being delivered by partners Arcola Energy, ITM Power and ScottishPower, a partnership formed to help educate people on the importance of green hydrogen in tackling the ongoing climate emergency.
Barry Carruthers, Hydrogen Director at ScottishPower, said: “Scotland is about to host one of the most important climate summits ever, COP26, and we want to help bring some of the energy and excitement around COP26 to schools across Scotland with our partners Arcola Energy and ITM Power.
“We’re currently working to deliver a number of green hydrogen projects in Scotland – including the largest green hydrogen facility in the country, but we know that we still have work to do to help educate people about this critical, zero emission fuel and the role it plays in achieving Scotland’s overall Net Zero goals.
“This green hydrogen Challenge will help engage Scottish students in how green hydrogen can help decarbonise our daily lives by providing a clean fuel alternative to heavy industries and transport and supporting hundreds of green jobs.”
During the workshops, competitors will find out more about the decarbonisation of transport and the important role it is playing in reaching Scotland’s climate change targets.
The Challenge also offers a chance for members of the community to learn about green hydrogen, its applications and its expected growth over the next decade during evening and weekend workshops.
Experts will be on hand to answer any questions about the technology and offer a chance for people to try their hand at building a hydrogen-powered vehicle.
Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power, said: “It is vitally important we work with young people as they grow up during the rapid shift to a net-zero economy. We are thrilled to be working with partners Arcola and ScottishPower, who are as passionate as we are about inspiring and upskilling a future generation of scientists and engineers.
“These hydrogen-fuelled vehicles are being built by the generation who will inherit the hydrogen technology that we at ITM Power are creating today. We hope to learn as much from them as they do from us.”
Green hydrogen is made when a renewable electricity source, like an onshore wind farm, is used to generate the electricity to power an electrolyser which splits water into its two elements; hydrogen and oxygen.
The zero emissions fuel offers a long term, sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, and can be used to decarbonise sectors that cannot be powered by electricity alone, including large transport vehicles like trucks, trains or buses and heavy industry or high temperature industrial processes.
Dr Ben Todd, CEO of Arcola Energy said: “Arcola Energy has delivered hands-on hydrogen education programmes to more than 100,000 students over the past 12 years, as part of our goal to deliver practical solutions to decarbonise transport, many examples of which will be on Scottish roads in the coming years.
“Based on real engineering principles, our workshops are delivered by our in-house team working with members of local universities and colleges who will be on hand to help teach students about green hydrogen and its applications – as well as offer a few hints and tips as they work to build their vehicles.”
The Challenge is being supported by the Scottish Cities Alliance and the Hydrogen Accelerator who have played a key role in the coordination of the Challenge and helping to educate people on the role of hydrogen in decarbonisation.
Cllr John Alexander, Chair, Scottish Cities Alliance, Leader Dundee City Council, said: “With COP26 just around the corner there has never been a better time to engage our future leaders, engineers, economists and so much more about how important zero carbon fuel is.
“In the lead up to COP26 the Scottish cities are proud to collectively support this important programme to inspire the next generation of renewable energy engineers who can capitalise on the high skilled jobs we aim to create from our collective investment to position Scotland as one of Europe’s leading early adopters of hydrogen technology.
“Innovation is happening here and now across the Scottish cities in deploying these technologies at scale to play our part in meeting Scotland’s ambitious net zero target by 2045 and putting the technology in the hands of young people is vital to ensuring that Scotland’s workforce of the future is best placed to reap the economic rewards as part of our just transition.”
Professor John Irvine, Chair of the Hydrogen Accelerator at the University of St Andrews, said: “On behalf of the Hydrogen Accelerator and the University of St Andrews, I am delighted that we are supporting this exciting Hydrogen Challenge programme, inspiring our young people to take up future careers within sectors such as Hydrogen as it offers such a diverse range of fulfilling career opportunities.
“The Hydrogen Accelerator also looks forward to continuing to support the ambitions of the Seven Cities and city regions in achieving their decarbonisation targets.
“With the abundance of renewable energy and water here in Scotland we have the right ingredients to produce green hydrogen enabling not only the decarbonisation of the transport sector but the opportunity to create innovative solutions, supply chain growth whilst providing citizens with clean, green transport.”
Scottish Youth Film Foundation (SYFF) and COP26 Principal Partner ScottishPower has unveiled the team of young filmmakers who have been selected to bring the voice of young Scotland to COP26.
Twelve young Scots from across the country and aged between 16 and 21 are being trained to film, direct, present and produce content which will be broadcast daily to a global audience as COP TV during the environmental conference.
SYFF co-founder Scott Mackay who has been working with the young people this summer, said of the global project: “COP TV is a fantastic opportunity for young people to influence the climate change conversation on a global stage – to bring the voice of young Scotland to the world and the world to the young people of Scotland.
“Working with the team, I am so impressed with the knowledge, passion and enthusiasm they bring to the film-making process. They are a credit to Scotland and will be fantastic young ambassadors both to the delegates and climate change influencers we interview and to the global audience watching our daily broadcast.”
“We are hugely grateful to ScottishPower for their support. This promises to be a historic event and I’m honoured to be working with such a talented group of young Scots.”
Dr Sam Gardner, Head of Climate Change and Sustainability at ScottishPower, said: “We need everyone to play their part in tackling the climate emergency and we’ve already seen that the enthusiasm and determination of young people can not only influence the decision-makers, but can result in real and lasting change.
“COP26 is arguably the world’s most crucial conference on climate change yet. It’s where we hope to see real action taken to cut carbon emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures. ScottishPower is already playing its part, investing £10billion in the UK over five years – £6 million every working day – to double its renewable generation capacity and drive forward decarbonisation.
“I’m delighted to meet the team from COP TV and I look forward to seeing the stories and news they capture during COP broadcast worldwide.”
The team will be supported by Christie Paterson, an offshore environmental manager with ScottishPower’s parent company Iberdrola. Based out of ScottishPower’s Glasgow HQ, Christie works with Iberdrola windfarm projects worldwide, advising on how to reduce and monitor potential environmental impacts.
Christie said: “I think COP TV is a fantastic initiative and it’s been great to meet the team at our windfarm today.
“There are so many great stories to tell as we journey towards net zero and I hope I can help show this group of young filmmakers all the ways we are working to help protect the environment both here in the UK and at windfarms around the world.”
MEET the FILM-MAKERS:
Becky Gillan
Hiya! My name is Becky and I live in Edinburgh (Although I’m originally from South Lanarkshire). I study Government Policy and Society with Quantitative Methods at the University of Edinburgh and have a strong interest in economic, environmental, educational and health policy. A fun fact about me is that I work as a roller skating instructor.
With COP TV, I hope to be able to spread awareness of climate change both within my generation and beyond. As well as this I hope to be able to interview key environmental stakeholders and ask the difficult questions that young people need to know.
Josh Parker
I’m Josh, I’m 17 and I’m from the south side of Glasgow. I’m in my first year of university. I’ve been really interested in activism and have worked on a range of issues that affect young people.
I hope to bring greater awareness to the climate crisis among other young people and inspire people to get involved in learning more/taking action..
Emily Ritchie
I’m Emily, I’m 20 years old and I live just outside of Glasgow. I’ve recently graduated from City of Glasgow College, where I studied HNC Social Sciences.
My hope is, that through the COP TV project, I will be able to build upon my current understanding of both Climate Change and the media industry.
Going into this project, my experience was mainly media based – having made a few short films in the past, along with an interest in photography.
Already I have learned vital skills in filmmaking, more about what we can do to tackle the climate crisis and the importance of COP26, something that will hopefully continue throughout the COP TV project.
Meredith Rae
I’m Meredith, I’m 17 and from the Falkirk area. Started getting interest in this area by writing a piece for my school newspaper regarding climate, the pandemic and climate justice.
I’m aiming to do Film and Television with Politics at University of Glasgow in 2022 and in the past year created an initiative at school called ‘Lady Business’ which aimed to combat period poverty.
Joseph Olanlokun
My name is Joseph Olanlokun. I’m 17 and live in Armadale in West Lothian.
One day I want to be a film/TV director so I am interested in Directing, Screenwriting and Camera Work. It’s been fun working with COP TV so far because it’s given me the chance to meet like-minded people who are positive about Climate change.
I hope to influence the way young people think about climate change and I want more people to do their part in making the world a better place.
Zoe Conroy
My name is Zoë Conroy and I come from a village called Banchory. I am 17 years old and I am currently in my sixth year at Banchory Academy.
I also have lately secured a place at Edinburgh Napier for a 4 year long photography course starting in 2022.
I really hope to go into the fashion industry as I have always felt that change is necessary within. Change is something I am very used to. I was born in Houston Texas and lived there for 5 years, then moved to Dubai, where we stayed for 6 years and finally moved to Scotland.
As you can tell by now I don’t shy away from change and there must be change made if we want to combat the climate crisis.
I hope that COP TV will give me the opportunity to get myself and the other young people who are part of the team out there and our voices heard, so that the change is made.
Stella Duncan
My name is Stella and I come from Dumfries. I am 16 years old at present but I am aiming to do a university level qualification in global environmental issues alongside my advanced highers.
I’ve been part of the school’s eco-committee for quite a few years and outside of school I have been attending a local film making group (Scene 1 take 1) for almost 7 years.
Scarlett Alexander
Hi, I’m Scarlett from Ayr and I’m 16 years old. I am into lots of different fashion and music and I’ve been taking an interest lately not just in media and climate but how media can be more climate and carbon conscious.
Totally fascinated by the technology of broadcasting and I hope to get a real chance through COP TV to gain experience in camera work and editing. Currently making my own personal film for COP TV about waterways near my home town.
I recently had a chance to sit in on the editing of a documentary about Johnny Cash and his performance in San Quentin jail.
Rachel Henderson
I’ve taken part in school climate protests like the march in Glasgow in 2019. I’m 16 years old and currently studying Higher Drama. I go to Bishopbriggs Academy and I am a massive bookworm with my favourite book being ‘ The Midnight Library’ By Matt Haig.
I hope to gain more knowledge and insight on what’s going on in the world and to use the skills I learned to spread awareness and to inspire others to make change
Jasmin Robertson
17 years old and from Nairn I have attended the Friday climate strikes at school and I aim to improve our world throughout all my creative practices. Recent art projects have looked at things like plastic pollution and reforestation.
I am really looking forward to the act of making programmes and films; From the writing and planning to the editing and final transmission. I enjoy editing and can’t wait to get started making films for broadcast during COP 26.
Finlay McLennan
Hello! My name is Finlay, I am 17 years old and I live just outside of Inverness. I love trad and folk music and I play the fiddle with my band Cala.
What I hope to achieve at COP is inspiring other young people to be a part of the fight for climate change through the use of film and also to gain experience working in the media industry.
Charlie Topping
I’m Charlie. I’m 16 years old and from Drumchapel and just completed a short comedy horror film (despite the pandemic) for my Higher Media course.
Really looking forward to getting involved in all aspects of both broadcast and the climate crisis as we head to COP 26. Which will likely be the most important event to ever come to my hometown of Glasgow. Main focus – fast fashion.
