|
British Gas
British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving around twelve million homes in the United Kingdom, British Gas is the biggest energy supplier in the country, and is considered one of the Big Six dominating the gas and electricity market in the United Kingdom. History 1812–1948 The Gas Light and Coke Company was the first public utility company in the world. It was founded by Frederick Albert Winsor and incorporated by Royal Charter on 30 April 1812 under the seal of King George III. It continued to thrive for the next 136 years, expanding into domestic services whilst absorbing many smaller companies including the Aldgate Gas Light and Coke Company (1819), the City of London Gas Light and Coke Company (1870), the Equitable Gas Light Company (1871), the Great Central Gas Consumer' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centrica
Centrica plc is a British multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire. Its principal activity is the supply of electricity and gas to consumers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the United Kingdom, and one of the largest suppliers of electricity, operating under the trading names Scottish Gas in Scotland and British Gas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It owns Bord Gáis Energy in Ireland. The company also provides household services including plumbing. Centrica is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History Predecessors The company has its historical origin in the Gas Light and Coke Company which incorporated in 1812. Over the next 137 years, it grew by acquisition of other gas companies to become the primary supplier of gas to Greater London. In 1949, under the Gas Act 1948 the ownership of the company transferred to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limited Company
In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the liability of members is limited to the unpaid value of shares. In a company limited by guarantee, the liability of owners is limited to such amount as the owners may undertake to contribute to the assets of the company, in the event of being wound up. The former may be further divided in public companies (public limited company, public limited companies) and private companies (private limited company, private limited companies). Who may become a member of a private limited company is restricted by law and by the company's rules. In contrast, anyone may buy shares in a public limited company. Limited companies can be found in most countries, although the detailed rules governing them vary widely. It is also common for a distinct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Light & Coke Company
The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The headquarters of the company were located on Horseferry Road in Westminster, London. It is identified as the original company from which British Gas plc is descended. History The company was founded by Frederick Albert Winsor, who was originally from Germany, and incorporated by royal charter on 30 April 1812 under the seal of King George III. It was the first company set up to supply London with (coal) gas, and operated the first gas works in the United Kingdom which was also the world's first ''public'' gas works. It was governed by a "Court of Directors", which met for the first time on 24 June 1812. The original capitalisation was £1 million (about £70 million at 2018 prices), in 80,000 shares. Offices were established at Pall Mall, with a wharf at Cannon Row. In 1818 the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and helium are also usually present. Natural gas is colorless and odorless, so odorizers such as mercaptan (which smells like sulfur or rotten eggs) are commonly added to natural gas supplies for safety so that leaks can be readily detected. Natural gas is a fossil fuel and non-renewable resource that is formed when layers of organic matter (primarily marine microorganisms) decompose under anaerobic conditions and are subjected to intense heat and pressure underground over millions of years. The energy that the decayed organisms originally obtained from the sun via photosynthesis is stored as chemical energy within the molecules of methane and other hydrocarbons. Natural gas can be burned fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coal Gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous fuels produced for sale to consumers and municipalities. The original coal gas was produced by the coal gasification reaction, and thus the burnable component consisted of a roughly equal molecular mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Thus, coal gas was highly toxic. Other compositions contain additional calorific gases such as methane, produced by the Fischer-Tropsch process, and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Prior to the development of natural gas supply and transmission—during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States and during the late 1960s and 1970s in the United Kingdom and Australia—almost all gas for fuel and lighting was manufactured fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Gas Congress And Exhibition
The National Gas Congress and Exhibition was held in the International Exhibition Halls, Shepherd's Bush, London from 1 October to 1 November 1913. The exhibition displayed examples of the best gas fittings of the day in mock rooms representing a large and a small town house, "unusually" mixing manufacturers' products in the spaces rather than having individual trade stands for competing companies. The exhibition catalogue guides the visitor around the seven halls detailing all of the gas powered objects on show. These included ovens, cookers, toasters, tea boilers, irons, fires, radiators, towel rails, cigar lighters, and a wide variety of lights including lamps, table lamps, pendents. The event was targeted at promoting gas to "... all classes of visitor - the practical housewife and the housewife-to-be; the chemist; the technical; the factory owner; the social worker; the artisan; the domestic servant; the doctor; the architect - in short all who need artificial warmth, lig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fuel
A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but has since also been applied to other sources of heat energy, such as nuclear energy (via nuclear fission and nuclear fusion). The heat energy released by reactions of fuels can be converted into mechanical energy via a heat engine. Other times, the heat itself is valued for warmth, cooking, or industrial processes, as well as the illumination that accompanies combustion. Fuels are also used in the cells of organisms in a process known as cellular respiration, where organic molecules are oxidized to release usable energy. Hydrocarbons and related organic molecules are by far the most common source of fuel used by humans, but other substances, including radioactive metals, are also utilized. Fuels are contrasted with other substances or de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Town Gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous fuels produced for sale to consumers and municipalities. The original coal gas was produced by the coal gasification reaction, and thus the burnable component consisted of a roughly equal molecular mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Thus, coal gas was highly toxic. Other compositions contain additional calorific gases such as methane, produced by the Fischer-Tropsch process, and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Prior to the development of natural gas supply and transmission—during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States and during the late 1960s and 1970s in the United Kingdom and Australia—almost all gas for fuel and lighting was manufactured fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attlee Ministry
Clement Attlee was invited by King George VI to form the Attlee ministry in the United Kingdom in July 1945, succeeding Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party had won a landslide victory at the 1945 general election, and went on to enact policies of what became known as the post-war consensus, including the establishment of the welfare state and the nationalisation of some industries. The government's spell in office was marked by post-war austerity measures, the violent crushing of pro-independence and communist movements in Malaya, the grant of independence to India, the engagement in the Cold War against Soviet Communism as well as the creation of the country's National Health Service (NHS). Attlee went on to win a narrow majority of five seats at the 1950 general election, forming the second Attlee ministry. Just twenty months after that election, Attlee called a new election for 25 October 1951 in an attempt to gain a larger m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill, and served twice as Leader of the Opposition from 1935 to 1940 and from 1951 to 1955. Attlee remains the longest serving Labour leader. Attlee was born into an upper-middle-class family, the son of a wealthy London solicitor. After attending the public school Haileybury College and the University of Oxford, he practised as a barrister. The volunteer work he carried out in London's East End exposed him to poverty, and his political views shifted leftwards thereafter. He joined the Independent Labour Party, gave up his legal career, and began lecturing at the London School of Economics. His work was interrupted by service as an officer in the First World War. In 1919, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Act 1948
The Gas Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 67) was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which Nationalization, nationalised, or bought into state control, the gas making and supply industry in Great Britain. It established 12 Area Gas board, Gas Boards to own and operate all public gas making, distribution and sales facilities and created a central authority: the Gas Council. It vested the existing local authority and company owned gas undertakings into the Area Boards with effect from 1 May 1949. The Gas Act 1948 was one of a number of Acts promulgated by the post-war Labour government to nationalise elements of the UK's industrial infrastructure; other Acts include the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946; the Electricity Act 1947; Transport Act 1947 (railways and long-distance road haulage); and the Iron and Steel Act 1949. Background Prior to nationalisation of the gas industry there were about 1,064 gas supply undertakings in Britain; about one-thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Thames Gas Board
The North Thames Gas Board was an autonomous state-owned utility area gas board providing gas for light and heat to industries, commercial premises and homes in south-east England. The board's area of supply, encompassing , included parts of the County of London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Surrey. History The North Thames Gas Board was established on 1 May 1949 under the Gas Act 1948 which nationalised the gas industry. The board was responsible to the Minister of Fuel and Power, later the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, for its operation and finances. The board was dissolved on 31 December 1972 when the North Thames area became a region of the British Gas Corporation under the Gas Act 1972. Upon nationalisation the board took over twelve local authority and privately owned gas production and supply utilities: * Ascot District Gas and Electricity Company (Only the gas operations were acquired: the electricity undertaking had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.png "Click for more on -> Clement Attlee")