A SELBY businessman who has licensed a revolutionary water heater designed to slash power bills by at least 25 per cent has rounded on the "green" authorities.

Stan Whetstone, 60, managing director of Aquastan Heating Ltd, today returned crestfallen from a trip to London to promote his unvented water heater, Novacon, saying: "The attitude towards energy reduction by the authorities is absolutely pathetic."

Mr Whetstone, who lives in Barlby, had gone to London for a meeting of The Economic And Social Research Council, a gathering of academics to discuss innovation in energy reduction, but says that half-way through then forum he was "beginning to lose the will to live".

He said: "It was supposed to be an open discussion forum, but at virtually every turn I was told that my proposals would be discussed later, and later never came. It was all washed away in a welter of political jargon."

Mr Whetstone's Novacon water heater is expected to be approved by the Water Regulations Advisory Service by July.

The device, a cylinder in his airing cupboard, has reduced his own monthly gas bill from £30 to £9. It is directly connected to the mains water supply, which eliminates the need for water tanks in the attic and delivers hot and cold water at equal pressure.

He said: "The unit reduces the air from the heating water to a level that makes the water inert and the benefit is that it heats up much faster and hotter for the same energy input.

"The result is that you have a heating system which is much quieter, less prone to corrosion, energy bills are vastly reduced and after two years of continual use the heating water is still potable."

While in London, Mr Whetstone also visited the House of Lords to attend a meeting of National Energy Action, the Government-sponsored body set up to address the problem of the effect of rising fuel prices on poor people.

He said: "This seems to be the one Government agency looking at the environment which really does work.

"It was there that I met David Threlfall, the chief executive of npower, who seemed very interested in my project, but I am not holding out any hopes in that direction."

Now Mr Whestone is scheduled to meet Environment Minister Elliot Morley at the House of Commons on March 30, as a member of PRASEG, the all-party Parliamentary Renewable & Sustainable Energy Group.

"I hope to persuade him that my product would be available to everybody, especially house builders and would make a real difference to CO2 emissions from houses by about 20 per cent."

Meanwhile, Mr Whetstone is developing a new device which can "piggyback" existing water heating systems to give the same benefits as Novacon.

Updated: 09:44 Thursday, March 16, 2006