I was invited by British Gas after being an ambassador for the Smart Mums campaign to visit their stand at the Ideal Home Show earlier this month.
They built a Smarter Home model that showed off some of their plans for transforming British homes to become more energy efficient. It was another chance for us to see their smart meters (gas and electric meters that make energy consumption more transparent and easy to monitor for consumers), remote control heating system and electric vehicles in action (on the screen inside).
British Gas is leading the way in making electric vehicles more accessible by setting up EV charging points for homes, businesses and public areas.
They’ve helped develop a new series of their EV champion Robert Llewellyn’s online TV show Fully Charged, showcasing the benefits of sustainable energy. It’s a fun show packed with info on renewable energy sources and inspiring shots of the Red Dwarf star zooming around in a solar panel-powered car.
Electric vehicles aren’t cheap to buy, but they save money in the long run and seem like the smart choice for anyone looking to reduce their carbon footprint. We really enjoyed our brief ride in the Nissan Leaf company car during our visit to British Gas HQ.
While at the Ideal Home Show, we also got to watch a demonstration of the Home of the Future, featuring eye-popping technology including compact EV, sleep pods instead of beds, room-to-room audio with voice controls and the Robo TAP, a robotic vacuum that cleans wherever you tap your foot. Beam me up!
It was our first visit to the Ideal Home Show which is massive and quite overwhelming with kids — at one point they conked out on a display sofa!
Thanks to British Gas for inviting us along and we’ll be following their journey into the next phase of energy efficient technology for smarter living.
Follow Robert Llewellyn’s Fully Charged series on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/fullychargedshow
