EPub: technology to slash your bills

Suddenly, climate change is the new rock 'n' roll. It's on the agenda of every politician who wants to get elected next time around, and even George W Bush says something had better be done about it.

But it's not just about saving the planet - although you'd think that would be incentive enough. It's also about saving money, and the great thing is that while the latest technology can increase energy bills for pubs, it can also be used to reduce them.

One of the more interesting products in this respect has recently been launched by EPoS and systems provider Positive8. Called Pulse8, its main component is a remote monitor that measures how much electricity, water and gas you use.

The clever part, though, is that the results are wirelessly transmitted to Positive8's web server and updated hourly on a website, enabling you to track trends, identify 'energy- hungry' areas of the business and introduce energy-saving measures on the basis of detailed reports tailored to your needs.

"Many pubs and bars do not know problems with energy exist until the bill drops on their mat," says Positive8's Fiona Macvicar.

"The beauty of having the monitoring system on site and the hourly reports is that you can control what you are using and use it as a tool to save you money through good housekeeping measures."

In fact, the company believes that with some rigorous target-setting you can reduce your energy costs by as much as 20 per cent.

Energy-efficient lightbulbs are perhaps the simplest technological change you can make and now there's a company set up to help you do it in the most effective way. Go Green Lighting offers pubs free energy efficiency surveys as well as energy saving lamps and fittings.

The problem with traditional lightbulbs is that 80 per cent of the energy is heat, rather than light. Go Green estimates they waste 30 per cent of a pub's monthly electricity, equating to £25 per bulb.

"Early energy-saving lamps were bulky, unsightly, unreliable and would not have been suitable for use within pubs," it says.

"But a new generation of high-quality, compact, dimmable and aesthetically pleasing energy-saving lamps are now available, as well as low-energy halogen and external flood lighting."

By way of example, a recent client of Go Green operated a pub that used around 120 incandescent and mains halogen lamps for 12 hours a day on a tariff of 12 pence per kilowatt-hour, costing £2,555 a year to run.

After converting to energy-saving alternatives the bill was reduced to £519 - or £17 per bulb.

The kitchen is another costly part of the pub in terms of energy bills, and Gram is celebrating topping the energy efficiency charts released by the government's Carbon Trust watchdog.

Its Midi K 625 fridge uses just 505 kilowatt-hours of energy a year, 38 per cent less than its nearest comparable competitor.