Friday, 27 January 2023
An outreach project, led by the University of Nottingham, hopes to reduce fuel poverty in the city one meal at a time by teaching people how to make their own energy saving slow cooker.
At a time when the cost of living is at its highest level in a decade, people across the UK are doing all they can to try and minimise their household bills. With 17% of an average household’s energy bills being consumed in the kitchen, according to the Energy Saving Trust, the Faculty of Engineering’s Food, Water, Waste research group has teamed up with Tiger Community Enterprise CIC to deliver workshops for volunteers.
The project has been inspired by the concept of hayboxes, as well as the simple but revolutionary non-electric slow cookers that originated in South Africa. After bringing a pot of food to the boil on a stove, they can cook food for up to eight hours without any additional energy source – which could not only save households money on their bills in the long run but simultaneously cut down their carbon footprint too.
Mike Clifford, Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, said: “One area of my work is looking into how we can adopt safer, cleaner and more energy-efficient cooking technologies – and this work has taken me to several countries where I’ve seen a variety of approaches.
“During a cooking exhibition in Ghana, I was introduced to the concept and was instantly impressed by its simplicity, safety, price, and environmental benefits."
Cooking with this principle reduces fuel consumption by 70%, as all you do is bring a pot of food to the boil on the stove and then transfer it to the bag where it will continue cooking – just like a slow cooker.
Mike continued: “Ever since I was introduced to this fantastic piece of technology and its benefits, I’ve been keen to work with the Nottingham community to help people not only reduce their household bills and carbon footprint but maybe even learn some new recipes at the same time - and Tiger was the perfect candidate.”
Tiger Community Enterprise CIC was set up to aid individuals and organisations in their growth. It has since evolved to encompass the Tiger Community Hub, which delivers projects that offer a wide range of opportunities for people to enhance their own skills, supports the mental health of the community, and works with partners to offer a wide range of activities.
We are excited by this new project to produce a Tiger Slow Cook Bag using this principle. We’re using different insulation in the prototypes, including fleece from a local rare breed of sheep, and testing the efficiency of the bags.
Toni continued: "This will enable us to produce supporting literature and look at how best we can adapt the making of the bags to support the wider community."
The first session took place at Tiger on Thursday 26 January, with more in the pipeline over coming weeks, where volunteers had the opportunity to create their own bag from scratch, test out the efficacy of different materials and put the bags to the test with a range of recipes.
With household bills soaring, we’re all looking to identify new ways to reduce the impact on our day-to-day lives, and I hope that these workshops will go some way to providing another option for people when it comes to minimising outgoings.
Mike continued: "This is just the first of what I hope will be many workshops with Tiger and the people of Nottingham, and I look forward to introducing more people to this fascinating way of cooking."
Story credits
More information is available from Mike Clifford, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham, at mike.clifford@nottingham.ac.uk; or Danielle Hall, Media Relations Manager at the University of Nottingham, at danielle.hall@nottingham.ac.uk or 0115 846 7156.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
More news…