From April 2008 onwards, organisations are required to collect data to display their companies' energy efficiency and carbon impact (according to building use and size). Buildings ranging from offices to schools and council buildings to shops will all be affected.

Regarding Display Energy Certificates, a key component of the legislation is to know the energy that a building uses, through the gathering of data. Energy consumption can actually be collected with minimal disruption and at a low cost by using the Gaia System. Year on year consumption improvements can also be monitored and recorded, as part of the requirement. If the consumption data is easily to hand then swift action can be taken to ensure your organisation is making the grade!

Call Gaia on 02476 236446.

The Government is set to miss more than half the targets it has set on environmental issues since 1997, research has claimed.

A study by centre-right think-tank Policy Exchange said 60% of green aims laid out by Labour have been missed, are unlikely to be achieved or are so vaguely worded as to make analysis of whether they've been met impossible.

Targets set by the Government since it came to power on issues ranging from biodiversity to climate change have been or will be missed, the research claimed.

Future governments will need to make greater efforts and create stricter legislation in order to meet targets. Smart metering, mentioned in the latest budget, is a likely area for further legislation.

Gaia’s smart monitoring system helps businesses meet smart metering objectives and reduce gas and electricity costs.

Read more on this story at http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080508/tuk-labour-failing-on-green-targets-6323e80.html

56 consumer companies, such as Google and Apple, have been scored for the second year running on their commitment to the environment.

Non profit group Climate Counts ranks the companies and their findings showed that most scored higher than they did in 2007; however the average was still low.

This does show that companies are taking environmental issues seriously and continually looking for ways to reduce their carbon emissions.

Gaia Active helps companies to measure where they are emitting carbon and helps to identify where savings can be made.

Read more http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/07/business/climate.php

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and IBM are to survey companies with a good record on gathering and disclosing data on their carbon dioxide emissions, in order to produce a best practice guide.

The guide is likely to show how companies are currently managing carbon within their businesses and help organisations to better manage their own.

To read more visit: http://www.environmental-finance.com/onlinews/0417cdp.html

Remote energy monitoring from Gaia can help you collect carbon figures within your business.

To understand more email enquiry@savegia.net

March was a busy month for Gaia with a broad range of new customers subscribing to our online energy monitoring service. The ability of the Gaia model to suit a range of industries has shown in true colours during March, with a diverse collection of new subscribers.

March subscribers include:

· A Secondary School.

· A Laser metal cutting business.

· A Rubber component manufacturer.

· Two Car component manufacturers.

· A Leisure Centre.

· Hygiene products manufacturer.

· Shoe manufacturer.

· And a Further Education College.

Gaia can help most businesses/organisations to manage their energy consumption.
Let us see if we can help you:

Call us on 02476 236446

email enquiry@savegaia.net.

Do you know your organisations carbon footprint?

A recent amendment to the climate change bill is set to introduce legislation forcing firms to disclose their carbon footprint.

UK listed firms will report their emissions as part of their annual reports. Firms will need to know total amount of fuel usage, from buildings & processes to vehicle use.

Once this is established, the next inevitable step will be to take increase the reach further, incapsulating all sizes of business.

A simple way to understand your total emissions from your site is to undertake energy monitoring. Gaia helps companies to see their gas and electricity carbon emissions online, eliminating the time taken collating meter readings.

To understand more about this story visit http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2213259/lords-backs-plans-mandatory

Consultancy Ernst & Young, in a recent report ranks increasing concern about the environment as ranking in the top ten strategic risks to business.

Environmental challenges could result from stricter regulations, changes in consumer attitudes and extreme weather events.

The challenge is both in becoming green and how far companies should go. The report states that, ‘Going green is expensive, but could pay dividends if consumer tastes and regulation shift quickly’

The report goes on to warn ‘The pace and extent of this new ‘green revolution’ is hard to predict – but what is almost certain is that some firms will get the right fuel mix, real estate portfolio, or carbon footprint, while others will go either too radically green or, more likely, not green enough’

Gaia helps businesses to understand how they are using their energy and helps companies to limit their energy wastage through remote energy monitoring.

Read report at http://www.ey.com/Global/assets.nsf/International/EY_Strategic_Business_Risk_2008/$file/EY_Strategic_Bus_Risk_2008.pdf

Britain has made some inroads into reducing Global Warming and the government statistics are here to back it up.

Overall emissions were down from 652.3 million tonnes in 2006 to 639.4 million tonnes in 2007, provisional statistics from the government said.

For carbon dioxide, net emissions were provisionally down from 554.5 million tonnes in 2006 to 543.7 million tonnes last year - a two percent fall.

The government put the decrease in CO2 emissions down to a switch from coal to natural gas for electricity plus a cut in fossil fuel consumption by households and industry.

To maintain and increase this trend in 2008 then Gaia Active will continue to work with industry and individual organisations to reduce their energy wastage through consumption monitoring and targeted energy saving campaigns.

Read more on this story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080327/wl_uk_afp/britainpoliticsenvironmentclimatewarming

Get ready for Scottish &Southern (SSE) to raise its gas and electricity prices. Domestically gas is set to rise by average of 15.8% and electricity by 14.2%.

SSE is the last of the big six energy suppliers to announce large scale increases since the start of 2008. With oil still at more than $100 a barrel prices are likely to remain high.

There may be little that can be done to lower the price of energy so prudent businesses are ensuring that they are not wasting energy to keep their energy costs in control. Gaia’s top tips to save energy in the workplace help businesses to do this.

To order your copy of 44 top tips to save energy in the workplace email enquiry@savegaia.net.

To understand more about the price rises see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7306173.stm

It was heralded as the ‘green budget’ and whilst not delivering a killer blow to tackle Climate change head on, within the detail of the speech there were a few measures that are likely to affect all businesses in the UK.

In Mr Darlings own words “if we are serious about reaching demanding targets then every department in Government, every public sector body, every business, every one of us needs to play its part.”

Outlined below are some of the key quotes and how they might affect your business:

Smart metering -

“We will roll out smart meters to medium and large companies over the next five years, providing greater incentives to reduce the amount of energy they consume.”

Further pressure mounts for businesses to have greater control over their energy consumption. Smart metering, otherwise known as enabling a meter to communicate consumption data direct to a PC, is becoming a reality for all businesses. Expect some legislation in the near future.

Remember, smart metering and remote monitoring of your energy consumption is exactly what Gaia Active offers you. Energy monitoring is all part of the “need to do more to reduce the amount of carbon generated at home and at work.” Gaia helps with making this a reality in the workplace.

Plastic bags -

“Given the damage that single-use carrier bags inflict on the environment, we want to be able to take action. We will introduce legislation to impose a charge on them if we have not seen sufficient progress on a voluntary basis. “

“Legislation would come into force in 2009 and based on other countries’ experience, it could lead to a 90 percent reduction, with around 12 billion fewer plastic bags in circulation.”

Did you think M&S introduced a charge for plastic bags recently for purely green purposes? Perhaps so, but as a leading business they know to act before legislation in order to stay ahead of the competition.

Buildings / Premises -

“I can announce today that new non-domestic buildings will become zero-carbon from 2019.”

Hence the introduction of energy performance certificates for buildings. Be ready for these when looking to move to a new premise or selling / renting your own.

EU Emissions Trading Scheme -

“Aviation must meet its environmental costs, and that is why we want aviation in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme.”

This will put pressure on suppliers within this industry to improve their own environmental standing. It is also another example of the reach of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme spreading to affect further industries. Expect this trend to continue.

Transport -

“Cars that emit less than the proposed 130 grams per kilometre European standard of carbon dioxide emissions will pay no car tax at all in the first year.”

Although fuel duty has been suspended for 6 months, this is a clear indication that pressure will be maintained on manaufacturers to create carbon efficient cars as well as making the business case for businesses to have carbon efficinet fleets. Indeed Mr Darling is “also reforming capital allowances for business cars to increase the incentive to move to lower emitting cars”

Conclusion -

Where will this extra revenue be used?

There is much debate in the media about how the extra revenue from these initiatives will go to funding budget borrowing. Only time will tell, however it was stated “The money raised should go to environmental charities”

Lets hope it really is does prove to be a green budget and any revenue raised is used to help improve the environment as well as making businesses more efficient.

Haydn Young will be presenting at the TEAMnet research group workshop to help the textile industry meet its energy saving challenges and reduce energy consumption through energy monitoring (using smart meter technology)

The workshop takes place on the 11th of March 2008 at the Cropston Visitor Centre from 9am to 12:30pm. Haydn looks forward to seeing you there and helping you to gain control over your energy consumption.

Unable to attend? If you have a query about saving energy within the textile industry, or any other industry, please call 02476 236 446. Alternatively email enquiry@savegaia.net and Gaia will endeavour to help you.

After exhibiting at the Energy Services Technology Association (Monitoring & Targeting) conference at the Ricoh Arena Coventry, Gaia is delighted to be monitoring the energy consumption of even more Midlands based companies.

Gaia is committed to reducing energy consumption and is pleased to help local companies to find effective and affordable ways to gain greater control of their consumption.

Call Gaia for further energy saving information 0247 236 446

Gaia is pleased to presenting at this years Energy Services Technology Association (Monitoring & Targeting) conference at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry 19th February.

With the ever increasing pressure on UK business to reduce energy consumption, Gaia is teaming up with Pilot Systems to present a session dedicated to SMEs. The session titled ‘Bringing metering benefits to smaller sites with limited resources’ explores the new technologies available to support the smaller business who cannot justify employing in-house resources to manage energy.

Eon has announced price rises of 15% in Gas and 9.7% in Electricity to take effect from 8th February.

Eon is the fifth major energy supplier to make recent substantial price increases citing wholesale prices as the driving force.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7232370.stm

Pressure continues to mount on UK businesses to limit the effects of rising energy costs. Switching suppliers will help, but all suppliers are expected to increase prices over the coming months. You can end up switching to a supplier with little benefit.

Focus on consumption

Monitoring what you use in your workplace is both effective and affordable in reducing energy consumption.

See Gaia's http://www.savegaia.net/threesteps.asp to understand how.

If you’re not monitoring your energy you’re not managing it.

The growth of Gaia Active Ltd took another step forward as they pitched for further investment at “A Dragons” Den evening at the University of Worcester.

The event had a green theme, with Gaia presenting how, through remote energy monitoring, they are enabling businesses to make energy savings and gain control over their energy consumption.

Haydn Young, Managing Director of Gaia Active Ltd, stated “It is very rewarding to see client’s amazement when they see how much energy they can save at certain times of the day, with just a few simple changes and Gaia’s ongoing monitoring. Customers can reduce consumption and keep it that way! ”.

To read the full article in the Worcester news cut and paste the following link into your browser:

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/display.var.2059309.0.dragons_den_fun_helps_build_links_with_charity.php

Highly energy efficient businesses don’t just install the latest energy saving technology, they monitor the energy they consume and actively manage their employees to behave in energy efficient ways. This results in sustained savings.

Gaia helps many different types of organisations to undertake energy saving initiatives and to monitor their energy consumption. From this experience, Gaia has compiled 44 Top Tips that can benefit your organisation.

FREE Top Tips Booklet:
Gaia is offering a FREE Top Tips booklet to help your business to reduce it energy consumption. The offer is open until Friday the 8th of February.

To claim your free booklet:
- Call Gaia on 02476 236 446
- Email enquiry@savegaia.net
Please state if you would like your energy saving booklet electronically or posted.

The 2008 EPI, released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, ranks 149 countries on 25 indicators tracked across six established policy categories: Environmental Health, Air Pollution, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Climate Change.

The Index is produced by a team of environmental experts at Yale University and Columbia University.

The UK fell behind a host of other developed countries including Switzerland and Germany. Whilst the UK is heading in the right direction on environmental issues, we are still way behind other leading nations and the current Governmental push for greener business look set to intensify.

Remember, energy monitoring from Gaia is an effective tool in helping business to lower their carbon emissions and reducing energy wastage with ease, Let us see if we can help you manage your energy better by calling us on 02476 236446.

See the rankings in full: http://epi.yale.edu/Home

British Gas has announced 15% rises in electricity and gas prices. High wholesale costs are cited as the main cause.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7195811.stm

Further pressure is mounting on UK businesses to limit the effects of rising energy costs. Switching suppliers will help, but all suppliers are expected to increase prices over the coming months. You can end up switching to a supplier with little benefit.

Focus on consumption
Monitoring what you use in your workplace is both effective and affordable in reducing energy consumption. See the 3 Steps to Saving Energy with Gaia to understand how.

http://www.savegaia.net/threesteps.asp

If you’re not monitoring your energy you’re not managing it.

Following Npowers recent price rise of up to 27%, EDF have followed suit announcing a 12.9% price rise for gas and a 7.9% increase in electricity prices from Friday 18th January.

Npower price rise:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jan/04/householdbills.consumeraffairs

EDF price rise:
http://http:/www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jan/15/householdbills.consumeraffairs

Further pressure is mounting on UK businesses to limit the effects of rising energy costs. Switching suppliers will help, but all suppliers are expected to increase prices over the coming months. You can end up switching to a supplier with little benefit.

Focus on consumption:

Monitoring what you use in your workplace is both effective and affordable in reducing energy consumption. See the 3 Steps to Saving Energy with Gaia to understand how.

If you’re not monitoring your energy you’re not managing it.

January is now a difficult month for energy customers, Npower have just announced a 12.7% Electricity and 17.2% Gas price increase with analysts predicting other UK energy providers will follow suit with their own price rises.
Act now by following these two steps.

Step 1: Monitor your daily energy consumption

By actively monitoring your daily energy consumption you can control your costs. The average UK company wastes up to 20% of their electricity & gas and is unaware of when and how they consume their energy.

Step 2: Change energy suppliers

There are many energy brokers or smaller suppliers offering better deals than the big six energy companies so shop around, yet remember the effects of cheaper energy contracts are often short-lived and some energy providers require longer contracts for competitive deals. Of course the financial benefit of cheaper energy is all the greater if you reduce consumption.

December was a difficult month for energy customers, with two announcements making New Year gas and electricity price increases look a certainty.

Firstly, energy supplier nPower have put up the price of their tracker energy tariff by 15%. The tracker tariff, which ties energy costs to wholesale market prices, is often seen by many as an early indicator of how the sector will behave in the short term.

The second blow came from rival supplier British Gas, with the former monopoly also increasing prices on its tracker tariff, and blaming difficult trading conditions and higher wholesale costs for creating an uncertain market.

How can you mitigate these effects?

Step 1: Use less energy!
Sounds obvious but using less energy is the most effective way to control energy costs. For every pound you save on energy drops straight to your bottom line. You don't need to be an energy expert to save energy, call Gaia on 02476 236446 and we will be you remote energy manager.

Step 2: Swop suppliers: Changing supplier is always wise and their are many energy brokers out there to get you a good deal, yet remember the effects of cheaper energy contracts are often short-lived.

By monitoring your energy consumption with Gaia we can help you keep control your energy consumption for the long term.

Gazprom has given warning that European consumers should expect stiff increases in natural gas prices as the soaring cost of oil feeds through into contracts for the sale of Russian gas into Europe. The cost of wholesale natural gas will rise by between 15 and 20 per cent next year, Alexander Medvedev, the deputy chief executive of Gazprom, said. He added that even greater increases could follow if the European Commission pushes through measures to break up Europe’s gas grid.

The soaring price of crude oil, which this week flirted with $100 per barrel, will soon feed through into natural gas prices, stoking inflationary pressures in Europe. British consumers are unlikely to be spared the effects of a Russian price increase as the two markets are linked by an inter-connector pipeline between Norfolk and Belgium. In Britain’s free-for-all competitive gas market, contracts for gas are bought and sold daily on a futures exchange.

For more details on this story see:http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article2933504.ece

Be prepared for rising gas price in the coming year. Let Gaia Active monitor you energy consumption and help you begin to drive down your gas consumption. Email enquiry@savegaia.net

The increases have been predicted by research from brokers Catalyst. Reasons behind the rise include lessening oil supply from North Sea fields and general wholesale price increases - a barrel of crude oil currently holds an unprecedented $100 market price.

For more on this story see http://www.uswitch.com/news/energy/OctDec2007/report-predicts-10-rise-in-energy-bills.cmsx?ref=google_uk

Not good timing for UK businesses - this winter is expected to be colder than last, further increasing the demands for energy.

Gaia Active will be helping businesses lessen the impact of this rise in energy costs. Gaia will monitor their energy consumption and ensure they act to keep their consumption and subsequent bills down. To let Gaia monitor your energy consumption call 024 7623 6446 or email enquiry@savegaia.net

The Carbon Trust argues that a lack of time and expertise is preventing small and medium businesses from reducing their carbon emissions and making energy savings. Not surprising when there is no clear standard set on carbon foot printing and a whole plethora of methods to improve energy efficiency.

However, there are some simple and swift steps that most SMEs can undertake, even if they lack time and expertise. The energy monitoring system from Gaia can be effectively utilised in as little as 10 minutes a week and helps increase understanding of your own energy consumption.

Gaia active is committed to helping SMEs reduce their energy consumption and subsequent carbon emissions. The Gaia system is designed to be used by any member of an organisation and requires very little time to use. Gaia monitors the energy usage in a building, alerting the user only when consumption is consistently creeping upwards. All the SME requires is someone with a desire to reduce energy consumption and help the environment. Expert advice is on hand to help users undertake energy saving campaigns and maintain energy and carbon savings.

For more information call 024 7623 6446. Or email enquiry@savegaia.net

Read the article at www.carbontrust.co.uk/about/presscentre/161007_SME+research+loans+campaign.htm

Gaia would like to thank all the business and public sector leaders that talked to us about energy saving solutions and how organisations can reduce their carbon footprint. Gaia active is currently working with various companies, effectively monitoring their energy and carbon emissions.

Remember that the simplest action any business can undertake to cut carbon emissions is to reduce their energy consumption.

Gaia active can help public sector organisations reduce their carbon emissions. Call us on 024 7623 6446.

The conference will take place on Friday 23rd November at the NEC Birmingham. The main focus is on the restructuring required for Britain to reach its carbon goals, including decentralised energy and low carbon schools. Gaia will be exhibiting alongside such names as Advantage West Midlands, BT and the West Midlands Regional Assembly. The Rt. Hon. Joan Ruddock MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment is confirmed as Key Speaker.

Gaia will be discussing how monitoring an organisations energy consumption and acting on this information can reduce consumption by as much as 20%. Gaia is confident that most organisations can significantly lower their carbon emissions in a short space of time and with little operational impact. Monitoring energy consumption and carbon emissions will become an increasingly critical tool in reducing carbon emissions.

For more information about the conference visit www.climate-change-solutions.co.uk/ .
For energy monitoring from info contact Gaia at enquiry@savegaia.net

Gaia had a successful day today, discussing energy monitoring and energy saving with leading businesses from the West and East Midlands region. Gaia co-exhibited with Pilot Systems to show organisations how easy it is to see their energy consumption and to begin to see savings.

Gaia was pleased to see so many organisations, such as universities, factories and hospitals, not only interested in seeing what they energy they were consuming, but also how to use the data to help manage energy usage behaviour of employees. Gaia, specialists in revealing energy consumption data and using the data to engage people, were very active in discussing ways to harness the power of people to reduce organisations carbon emissions.

Gaia looks forward to working with many of these organisations going forward and helping reducing their carbon footprint.

Gaia is particularly busy this week meeting with businesses to help them save energy and reveal their energy consumption. With this being the start of energy saving week, Gaia has been supporting many Midlands companies in extra ways they can reduce their energy consumption, help reduce carbon emissions and ultimately save themselves money on their utility bills.

In addition, we at Gaia have been taking extra care to be energy efficient. We're ensuring that all monitors are turned off when someone is away from the screen, blinds and curtains have been drawn at dusk to keep heat in the building and we have all been sporting the latest in sweater chic.

Good luck to everybody with their energy saving this week and feel free to call us or email if you would like some further free top tips on saving energy in the workplace.

02476 236 446

enquiry@savegaia.net

As a Coventry based company promoting energy saving measures in organisations, it only felt right that Gaia Active take part in the “Switch it Off” campaign.

For 5 days, from Monday 30th October to Friday 3rd November, Gaia Active and many other organisations, will attempt to turn off all unnecessary lighting and electrical appliances.

Of particular interest to Gaia Active is the fact that on Friday 3rd of November electricity use in Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire will be measured between 4:30pm and 6:30pm. Gaia Active are firm believers in the motivational power of monitoring energy consumption to drive people to save energy. We will be waiting eagerly to see the data from the turn off.

I encourage you to take part and if you need any information or advice please see the links below or contact us for a few tips on saving energy at work or creating an energy awareness campaign.

http://www.coventry.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/environment/sustainable-development/switch-it-off-campaign/

http://www.savegaia.net/toptips.asp

Gaia Active successfully exhibited at the first Leicester Business Event last Wednesday. It was a pleasure to talk to so many companies from Leicester and surrounding areas, such as Nottingham, Coventry and Derby. Clearly energy management is very high on people’s agenda’s with everyone keen to understand how they can reduce their energy wastage. Leicester business leaders are embracing the need to set targets for reducing their energy and carbon consumption, as well as driving down their energy costs at the same time.

We look forward to speaking to many of you again and helping many of you improve your working environment, for both your colleagues and customers, by embracing energy monitoring from Gaia Active.

Gaia Active were again featured in a leading call centre publication, CCF online, expertly talking about ways to save energy in call centre's.

It is becoming increasingly important for all types of business to embrace the need to reduce their carbon emissions and show that they are a green business. To do this its imperative to ensure your employees are involved in green initiatives at all levels. Energy saving campaigns can be very useful tools in this respect.

To see the article please visit CCF online at http://www.callcentre.co.uk/c/journal/view_article_content?groupId=10231&articleId=65461


To find out more about saving money in your call centre or running an energy saving campaign then please contact Gaia Active at enquiry@savegaia.net or call 02476 236 446.

Please feel free to come and talk to us at the forthcoming Leicester Business Event n the 3rd of October at the Walkers Stadium, Filbert Way, Leicester. The event is open from 10am to 4.30pm and is free to all visitors.

It will be a great opportunity to come and talk to us about understand how we can help you can save energy in your business.

So whether you want to:

• Reduce your daily energy profile of Gas ,Electricity or Water.
• Improve your businesses reputation through green initiatives.
• Install Smart Metering devices.
• Reduce your Carbon Footprint.
• Understand how your business impacts on Climate Change.
• Learn about the potential changes in Environmental legislation on business.
• Get some simple energy efficiency tips.
• Or just want a general chat, we would love to speak to you.

FREE ENERGY CONSULTATION
As an exclusive to the Leicester Business Event we are offering 10 Midlands businesses a free 1 hour energy consultation at their premises. Come to our stand to assess if your business can take advantage of this offer.

We look forward to meeting you there.

Extract from Contact Centre link.com - the leading dedicated online service for the contact centre industry.

Haydn Young, Managing Director of Gaia, an independent British company who specialise in saving businesses money on their energy bills, has come up with his top ten tips for ways to saving energy in the call centre environment

The whole issue of conserving energy and looking at how we can become more environmentally aware in the workplace has become a hot topic – and with good reason. The Carbon Trust state that every year £2.4 billion, (or 21%) of the total spent by UK businesses on energy is squandered. In call centres, this wastage can be particularly significant – as high as 30%! Whilst no body wants to see energy (and money) wasted, the problem is knowing what to do about it.

Link to full article with 10 tips for saving money in your workplace.

http://contactcentrelink.com/ShowMail.aspx?ID=1962

Haydn featured on BBC Radio Leicester (Rupal Rajani show) today taking about 'Energy saving in the Workplace'. A staggering £21 billion pounds is wasted each year by UK businesses leaving items on when not neccessary. For local Leicestershire businessess keen to save energy, we are offering a copy of our '44 Tips to Save Energy in the Workplace' booklet. To obtain one email haydn on haydn@savegaia.net.

Whether it’s for financial reasons or environmental concerns, you won’t want to miss out on this opportunity to cut your energy bills by as much as a third. Our simple to follow guide will give you practical steps you can take to reduce your energy consumption. For every pound saved in energy costs, a pound is added to your profitability. Many companies are also keen to be seen as being ‘green’ in the eyes of the public and their customers. Whatever the reason you want to save energy, this free guide gives you 44 simple effective ideas. This guide has been written and researched by us at Gaia – an independent British company who specialise in saving business owners money on their energy bills. We are initially providing it free of charge to ensure as many companies as possible are aware of just how easy it can be to reduce their impact on the environment whilst increasing their profits. To claim your free copy (worth £4.95) please e-mail your contact details to haydn@savegaia.net or phone us on 01858 419 804 and mention the website or radio promotion. We’ll be happy to post you a copy or can send you a pdf version by e-mail if you prefer.

Gaia Active today welcomes Stephen Thompson. Steve will undertake marketing responsibilities as well as bringing additional utilities and metering experience from his 3 years with National Grid.

Connect Midlands - funded by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) - has announced 20 companies in the East Midlands have been shortlisted for the £5 Million Investment Challenge, sponsored by BT Business, which offers up to £5 million in equity funding for high-growth and technology businesses.

We are thrilled to be part of this select group of East Midlands companies identified for their high growth potential and market appeal.

http://www.emda.org.uk/news/newsreturn.asp?fileno=3262

BY ANDY GILGRIST
BUSINESS EDITOR LEICESTER MERCURY

10:30 - 20 August 2007

Three firms are dreaming of securing up to £5 million investment in a Dragons' Den-style showdown with other small businesses.

The three Leicestershire companies are among 20 technology ventures through to the shortlist in the Connect Midlands £5 million Investment Challenge.

Next month, the trio will pitch for a share of the cash, with a panel of investors eliminating half the shortlist before a final showdown between 10 firms. The winners will be announced in October.

The county businesses still in the running are Harborough firm Gaia Active, and TTE Systems and UKOP, both from Leicester.

Isabell Majewsky, director of the not-for-profit Connect Midlands organisation, said: "We were overwhelmed by the diversity of businesses developing in the Midlands and by the standard of applicants to this year's challenge.

It was a tough decision to select only 20 shortlisted businesses, but now the judges have an even harder choice to select just 10 finalists."

UKOP, based in Braunstone, is developing tailored sports garments to keep players cooler for longer in games where a fuller shirt is needed, such as cricket, football, tennis and equestrian events.

Tony Messiou, of UKOP, said winning investment would help his business move forward.

His technology has been tested at Loughborough University.

He said: "It works like convection, like a radiator, venting away from the body. Because it has less contact with the body, you don't get a big patch of sweat which can cling."

TTE Systems, in New Walk, is a spin-out firm from the University of Leicester. It has previously been backed by the Lachesis Fund, which supports research at the five East Midlands universities, and regional development agency Emda.

Gaia Active, which uses remote, constant monitoring of customer's energy consumption to alert them to waste and potential cost savings, is based at Farndon Road, in Market Harborough.

The Investment Challenge, sponsored by BT, is also backed by the Catapult Venture Managers, of Enderby, which is running investment funds in the East and West Midlands. Those schemes are backed by the Growth Investment Network East Midlands and Emda.

Paul Bimson, BT regional manager, said: "We understand how hard it is for small businesses to establish themselves in worldwide markets, the first few years being the most critical."

The project is also backed by investment initiative the East Midlands Early Growth Fund.

Nicholas Wright, the fund's investment executive, said: "I'm looking forward to meeting some great entrepreneurs and hearing excellent pitches."

The winners will be named at a ceremony on October 10 at Kilworth House Hotel, in south Leicestershire.

During August Gaia has expanded into our new office at the Technology Park in Coventry. The Coventry University Technology Park is the ideal destination for fast growing high tech businesses and we are delighted to be moving in.

Our new (HQ) address will be Gaia Active Limited, The TechnoCentre, Unit 2.1, Coventry University Technology Park, Puma Way, Coventry, CV1 2TT.

Gaia will maintain our current East Midlands address in Market Harborough.

Gaia is pleased to launch our new website, branding and energy information service at www.savegaia.net
The website brings together on one site our free information in the form of e-newsletters, top tips and our Energy Evaluation tool with our subscriber only Remote Monitoring and Targeting System.

Gaia has successfully tested the Meterpod TM technology from Pilot Systems in a Manufacturing facility in the West Midlands. As a result our customer can now receive half hourly online to identify areas of consumption and take the necessary actions to cut wastage.

We are pleased to announce our new logo and branding to promote our Remote Monitoring and Targeting Service. Drawing from the climate change theme we chose the sphere as the ideal representation of Gaia with the strap line ‘Empowering business to save energy’. We believe the only way companies can maintain long term energy saving, is by engaging their staff behind the programme. With the a Gaia subscription we provide both the data and the support mechanism to do this.

Within four weeks of access, RSM Industries was able to make two substantial savings as a result of being able to see their gas consumption data.

• Their weekend pattern highlighted heating was being left on unnecessarily; this was corrected resulting in savings of about £50 per month.

• A further other saving arose identifying a sudden increase in background use of gas equivalent to £500 a month extra. RSM noticed from the graphs that the increase started at the same time that some work was done on a gas boiler. They investigated, found the boiler had been left set incorrectly after that work, and corrected the problem.

Had it not been for our smart meters and data, it may have taken many weeks for the additional usage to have come to light.