UK road test of the Zero DS electric motorcycle by Ross Lammas from Sust-it

Posted by Ross Lammas

Timing is everything! We road-tested the Zero DS electric motorbike during what seemed to be the only dry weekend this summer!

I must admit I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up the electric bike, especially when you collect it from a Land Rover dealership! No free road tax on their models, unlike the Zero! After speaking to the owner Steve Fews, it became clear that he’s a real motocross enthusiast, who knows a thing or two about motorbikes!

First impressions are that it’s a real practical alternative to petrol bikes, designed for everyday use, not some exotic prototype pipedream, all be it a little expensive!

The bikes are made in Santa Cruz, in the heart of Silicon Valley, California. Zero motorcycles claim a top speed of 80 mph and a range of over a hundred miles on a single charge. Our weekend road test of the Zero certainly can verify that these figures aren’t far off. The batteries have a claimed lifecycle of over 3,000 full charge-discharge cycles, giving you as much as 300,000 miles on the original power pack, sorry we can’t confirm this!

To do the bike justice we’ve made a video review / road test of the Zero DS electric bike. See what it’s like to ride and what it costs to run!

What’s using watts in your home – free energy monitors from Sust-it

Posted by Ross Lammas

To encourage everyone to get monitoring we’re giving away 10 energy meters – one for every 50th ‘like’ we get on Sust-it’s Facebook page. So go on, keep up to date with Sust-it and you could win a Power Meter today – and save a great deal long-term!

We’ve been running our ‘Repair vs Replace’ service for over a year now; helping find information on the energy usage of old appliances and enabling you to compare these against new energy efficient models. What we’ve noticed from the enquiries is that there are still a lot of very old appliances working away in our homes, some over thirty plus years old! Whilst there may be a green argument that ‘if it’s working don’t replace it’, this is often not the case with high energy consuming products such tumble dryers, washing machines and freezers; these appliances use a great deal of electricity during their life – especially those that pre-date the introduction of energy labels, which there appears to be a lot of! We have some staggering examples of freezers that are costing £120 per year to run.

If we can’t find any information regarding old products we advise consumers to borrow or buy an inexpensive power meter, to check out what they are consuming. If you send us your data we can then workout what the savings could be if you replaced your existing appliances with modern energy efficient models.

* UK residents only, promotion started July 2012

56% of online retailers are not displaying full energy label information – yet it’s a legal obligation for them to do so!

Posted by Ross Lammas

Whilst there are lots of issues that need addressing with energy labels. They are still your only yardstick (apart from Sust-it) to the energy efficiency of products. And one often forgotten aspect of them is that they should be displayed wherever you purchase a product, whether it’s from the high street or an online shop.

A survey published in the National Measurements Office (NMO)* Annual Enforcement report, has highlighted that 30% of high street traders are displaying energy labels that are inaccurate when compared with the manufacturer’s information. Even more shocking is that 56% of online retailers are failing to display full energy information!

Sust-it takes its information from manufacturers websites, as we’ve noticed retailers website information is often wrong! Occasionally this has thrown up some inaccuracies with manufacturers in the past. In one case a Sust-it user selected the most efficient fridge freezer, this was a Candy CCS5166w 204.4 KWh (£28.23) at the time, which he bought from an online retailer, only to discover when it arrived that it used 288 KWh (£41.18) that’s £12.95 more electricity per year than Candy had displayed on their site. Luckily the online retailer refunded him and Candy amended their website and so did we!

Another problem area is home branded appliances, or brands that are only available from specific retailers, such as John Lewis appliances and TV’s, here we have to rely on their website energy information. Again, through our research we have highlighted discrepancies. We spotted some incredibly efficient John Lewis branded washing machines only to discover they were mislabelled! To be fair, one phone call to a knowledgeable white goods buyer at John Lewis and the information was corrected straightaway.

Our advice is to check and double check that retailers energy label information is correct, if it’s not there complain, ask why it’s missing. You’re within your rights to complain to Trading Standards if labels are wrong or missing. And when your goods arrive please check that the energy labels match what you ordered, if not send it back. These rules also apply to advertising so if you spot any mis-representations the Advertising Standards Authority will be interested to hear from you.

*NMO are the body responsible for the market surveillance of energy labelling information

Why are Energy Labels promoting less efficient A rated washing machines?

Posted by Ross Lammas

Energy labels for washing machines are now displaying average electricity consumed per year based on 220 cycles, regardless of the capacity of the machine. This means we get the absurd situation of the energy label on an A rated 6kg machine saying it uses less energy per year, than a more efficient A+++ 12kg machine – which does double the amount of washing!

Larger capacity washing machines can use more electricity per cycle, however, if you regularly have large loads of washing they are far more efficient per unit of electricity consumed – as they save on the number of loads.

One example is the A rated John Lewis JLWM1404 6kg washing machine, which according to the energy label uses 204 kWh (£29.15) per year.

Compared this the 12kg A+++ Samsung WF1124XAC with an annual consumption of 264 kWh (£37.73) per year, this implies that the A+++ machine is less efficient as it uses more power, even though it does twice as much washing. By ignoring the energy labels an average family could save 110 wash cycles per year.

The most economic and environmentally friendly option for the average family is buy a large drummed washing machine, as you’ll do far more washing per unit of electricity. Lots of manufacturers are now focusing on larger capacity machines, due to their energy saving credentials. It seems crazy that Energy Labels aren’t reflecting this change and are displaying confusing information; the other side effect of this change is that you now can’t compare machines which were tested before the new labelling system was introduced”

Our energy usage calculations are based on average amounts of washing; therefore larger machines tend to be more energy efficient per kg of washing done. With half load options and some with the technology to adjust the water and energy consumption according to the weight of washing, a large capacity machine is appealing if getting all the family’s towels and jeans done in one go is a priority. If consumers buy a large drummed machine, and use them correctly, major savings can be made!

Can hot fill washing machines be a greener option?

Posted by Ross Lammas

We’ve had several Sust-it users asking us why you can’t get hot fill washing machines any more. I must admit we went through the same process when replacing our worn-out washing machine a few years back. We had a very reliable Zanussi washing machine for over 19 years, which had a hot water feed, which was a real plus as our heating system at the time (which was not very eco-friendly, I must say!) was always generating a constant supply of hot water. The advantage was we weren’t wasting electricity, by reheating water within the washing machine.

We are now using a ground source heat pump to create our hot water supply, which is far more efficient than the heating elements in our washing machine! As would be a solar, wood pellet or even an efficient gas combi boiler! Unfortunately, at the time we needed to replace the Zanussi we could not source a hot feed supply washing machine. This was probably due cost cutting by manufacturers, and perversely the effect of energy labels which did not have a testing procedure for hot water supply machines.

Compare Washing Machines

So if you have a greener supply of hot water, what are the potential saving? One Sust-it user made contact, had a 12 year old B rated 6 kg Bosch washing machine with a hot fill supply, according to the manual, and at 60ºcotton cycle, and it uses 0.4 kWh costing £37.57 That’s nearly better than our best performance A+++ top-performing machine!

You will please to hear that you can now get a new energy efficient hot feed washing machine from ISE, these Swedish made machines are designed to last at least 8000 cycles and every machine is tested at the factory prior to dispatch. If you did one wash per day, 365 days per year, that’s just under 22 years of use! AND THEY HAVE A HOT WATER FEED! They are a little expensive though.

Cost to run using internal water heating £51.61 per year = 134.45 kgCO2
With Hot Water feed connected £28.11 = 44.82 kgCO2

Please drop us a line if you’d like more information on these hot fill washing machines