Peter Hopton, managing director of the Parkwood Road Business Park-based company, which makes computers which are just as sophisticated but consume a fraction of the power of machines built by the best-known brands in the industry, faces a grilling from the panel of entrepreneurs looking for investment prospects.

Peter, 26, who set up the business with university friend, physics and civil engineering graduate Simon Bown, 28, and younger brother, Andrew Hopton, 23, a biochemistry graduate, found the experience both nerve-wracking and anti-climactic.

"I was nervous and shaking for three days beforehand and 15 seconds into the filming, then I cooled off and it was a bit of an anti-climax and not as intimidating as I expected," said Peter.

The Dragon's Den schedule was pretty demanding, all the same.

Peter ended up spending two days in an hotel, waiting for his turn, and was filmed for two hours in order to get the 15-minute slot to be shown on tonight's programme.

"You sit in this room, waiting, and there is nothing but sugar and caffeine so you are completely wired.

"Every time the producer walks in you think you're next!" Peter added.

Irrespective of the outcome of tonight's programme, Very PC, which recently won the praises of Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, is on the road to expansion.

The company recently completed two orders for 100 computers, for a college in Sussex and a school in Halifax – and tests by the school have already show that each of Very PC's machines will save the equivalent in CO2 of planting up to four trees.

Meanwhile, Peter Hopton is taking his green message to the airwaves for a second time when he appears on BBC Radio Sheffield's breakfast show tomorrow.

Very PC specialises in three key areas – desktop PCs for the home and office, workstations tailored to get the best out of specialist software and servers.

It has also launched the 'GreenHive' which takes advantage of the power of modern PCs, combined with special 'virtualisation' software and a hardware interface, called a 'Client Box,' to allow one machine to be used simultaneously by up to seven users, cutting energy consumption to just nine watts per user.

Whatever the application, the Sheffield firm's aim is to create a computer that has a lower impact on the ecology, greater economy and similar performance to computers produced by its rivals.

The company reckons the low-energy PCs it makes use about a quarter of the power of a typical PC and half the power of other green computers, while having a lifespan that is 60 per cent longer than the industry standard.


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