A 15-year-old girl from Chatteris who came up with the idea of a solar-powered heated bed is celebrating having been named runner up in a national competiton.

Jess Stanbridge’s drawing was awarded second place in a competition which was run by energy company E. ON.

She was awarded an iPad Mini after impressing judges of the #MyEnergyHack competition by coming up with the idea of a new type of sunbed, using solar PV panels on the roof of a house to warm up a bed in the room below.

Jess said: “I started out by thinking about renewable sources of energy, and how these might be used at home.

“Everyone likes a warm bed to climb into when it’s cold outside and solar PV panels can still generate electricity through the winter months, so my design used this power to heat up a bed.

“I’d more or less forgotten I’d even entered the #MyEnergyHack competition when E.ON got in touch to say I’d won an iPad mini, but I was really pleased to receive my prize.”

Suzanne Doxey, community relations manager at E.ON, said: “We received around 200 entries, but Jess’ idea stood out for us because she’d taken a simple concept around solar PV panels and clearly had some fun thinking about how, in an imaginary house of the future, these could be used to help warm a toasty bed.”

The #MyEnergyHack competition, which asked entrants to share their ideas for using, saving or celebrating energy, is part of E.ON’s new educational programme, E.ON Energise Anything.