Green Energy Blog

electricity is changing

 

OK, electricity itself isn't actually changing, that would be a bit scary. But the way it's produced is changing.

The pace of change seems to have speeded up lately - the internet has become something people access from a phone. Electric cars are on sale. Eggs cost about four times what they used to cost. This were all fields when I were a lad. And so on.

The biggest change in electricity production is the move away from coal fired power stations. Amazing structures though they were (just look at Battersea power Station for awesomeness) coal burning is yesterday's way generating the juice. Electricity companies now use a mix of sources, with renewables on the increase, and more on the way if government renewables targets are any indication of the future.

For the consumer, the next big change is going to be how electricity use is measured in the home - with smart monitors that give the user a whole lot more knowledge about their energy use. And as we all know knowledge is power - green power.

 

UK snow and energy news

Doing a quick search on Youtube for UK snow 2010, I find this ITN report from almost a month ago. And in the long twenty seven or so days since then, not a lot's changed. There was a brief respite from the Arctic conditions at one point, with temperatures rising to 8 Celsius for about a day, but since then the mercury's mainly been under the line.

Traffic chaos is the main topic on the news as the weather continues to cause problems for everybody. And of course there are now reports that as temperatures plunge, energy use in the home goes up. Apparently this could have an effect on the price of gas as the UK is no longer gas independent but has to buy in supplies (about half of all gas used) from abroad, meaning that we are at the mercy of the market price of the stuff. 

Oh well, only about 3 months until Spring.

Electric lights

As an early adopter of low energy lightbulbs (can it really be nearly 20 years I've been using them) I've eventually gotten used to the fact that they produce a different light from ye olde 60 watt bayonet cap incandescent lamp of old. But over the last year or so, mine seem to have got slightly dimmer. It's as if my house runs off a lower voltage than it used to. Or maybe it's my eyes: dotage and all that.

In other lightbulb news, I was only made aware recently that the 100 watt incandescent bulb is now illegal in the UK. Suits me, as I'd often buy them by accident and they made the living room look like an interrogation cell. Mind you, that might also have been to do with the battered grey filing cabinet, bare wooden table and walls covered in woodchip wallpaper. (Kidding).

Electricity companies websites are a good place to look for general tips on energy saving - not just in terms of lightbulbs, there are even green energy plans with money off the bill for less energy used.

Electricity stories - the National Grid

This YouTube video is very interesting indeed. You'd think that generating the right amount of electricity to power the UK would largely be a matter of using the right software, just a row of blinking lights and maybe one or two boffins standing around in white lab coats holding clipboards and sporadically adjusting dials.

But no. The sci-fi LED display is there, reassuringly, but keeping the right amount of juice propulsing along the wires is an engineer with a television set showing Eastenders. Not that he has a particular interest in all things Walford - he just needs to know when the programme ends so that he can make sure there's enough electricity to go round. And he can't rely on prgramme schedules in case they're a minute out. One of the most impressive things in this video narrated by Andrew Marr is the bit where it's explained how large amounts of power can - when needed at short notice - be obtained in seconds by deploying a hydroelectric station.

So, next time you boil the kettle after watching prime time television - spare a thought for the people who make it all possible.

Is Your Central Heating up to this Winter

Well as you will have no doubt noticed by now it is starting to get very cold and very dark outside, it is getting more and more difficult to leave for work in the morning, and we are rushing home quickly at night. Home is the haven away from all that wind & rain & sleet & soon snow as well, but is your current central heating up to the horror that is the british winter, especially in January and February, they always seem the worst months.

So if you need some central heating installation services you had better get round to it sharpish as it will not be long until it is at its most needed, and then the boiler people will be at their busiest, and you might have to wait a bit, or worse pay more that usual. It's always handy to be ahead of the game with these things.

But don't worry it will be May in ohhhh, six months time, better get the blankies out!

Standby is a waste of electricity

 

I never use the standby function on devices. For me it's either have the device switched on or off, but don't leave it in some kind of limbo where its switched on but not actually doing anything.

So I was pleased to read recently that not using standby saves a bit of electricity and money, since a television on standby will still use electricity and provide nothing in return. Figures on the web vary regarding the consumption a television will have - some say 1 watt, some say 80% of full running power. The difference may be to do with whether it's a modern type device or not. But if in doubt, switch the thing off when not in use. It makes sense. 

Talking of money-saving ideas, I'd be interested to see energy companies data regarding low electricity users. The lowest I ever managed was £70 for a quarter but I have read of people getting the elctricity as low as £15 a quarter. Not that I would want to emulate that feat, just to see how many are able to do it.

 

 

Cheap electric car alert

If there are two things that have made me ever so slightly impatient with Mistuibishi's forthcoming electric car, it's the name and the price. Luckily though, the iMiEV has recently come down in price by an incredible ten grand. Yup, that's ten thousand pounds in price reduction. Unfortunately it's still called iMiEV, but hey - you can't have everything.

Despite the vehicle's unwieldy name - derived from the phase Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle (according to a famous internet encyclopedia) - it is a very, very smart looking motor, and one that's bound to sell well once it is finally released, what with its shrunken price tag.

It will be interesting to see what secondary effects the release of this car will have. I wonder if there will be special deals offered at the electricity charging stations or whether people will just plug the car into the home electricity supply? Electricity suppliers will no doubt be preparing to gauge the effect all these electric cars will have on the national grid.

My prediction is that electric cars will be a great success. I can't wait to start seeing them on the streets.

Autumn or Fall, either way it's time to think about electricity use

As summer recedes, making way for the Autumn, we naturally use more electricity. The summer salads get replaced by heartier fare as our hunter-gatherer instincts kick in and try to make us store up the calories for the long cold months ahead. In my part of the world (northern UK), winter seems to start about October and last til about April, so it's a long time until we emerge blinking into the Spring months.

But this year's gonna be different, maybe not in terms of the weather but in terms of my approach in dealing with it. I'll still of course be eating the hearty foods but I won't be cooking them 4 hours in the oven. And I'll be minimising my use of heating this year too. I'll be breaking out draft excluders, going to bed slightly earlier, wearing a thermal t-shirt under my shirt. And hopefully these little tricks will add up to some energy savings.

Electricity suppliers no doubt see their dials spin faster at this time of year, but I'm hoping I can keep the meter in my home at a steady slow tick.

Central Heating

If you live in Northern Europe it's a simple fact that Central Heating is a necessity. During the winter (and also oftentimes during the spring, summer and autumn) it can get pretty cold. I've seen snow falling in August, and have known winter to dip well below zero.

Central heating systems have been in operation since ancient times: and as every schoolkid once got taught: even the Romans had their own version. The Romans' ingenious underfloor central heating, the hypocaust, didn't make it as far as this part of the UK, being that the Romans never quite got this far. For why, I don't know - maybe the weather was just a bit too miserable for them ;)

But some of us still have central heating that might as well have been installed by the Romans or maybe even their less technologically sophisticated ancestors - things have moved on a lot since the 1970s - and the Roman era.

Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but if you are thinking about central heating installation in readiness for the coming winter, now is the time - more than ever the suppliers are crying out for business, when it's at its hottest [well relatively speaking anyway], and nobody else is thinking about getting a new boiler fitted.

Yes, you'll notice the difference not just in the efficiency of the new system once it's installed, but in the lighter fuel bills - well, I did at any rate. I think it's because the newer type of radiators convect as well as radiate, meaning that they spread heat so much better that they don't need left on at as a high a setting or for as long a period of time.

1000 green jobs for Scotland

A couple of interesting news reports for you today:

the first is a report in energyhelpline.com that brings the welcome news of energy rebates for some UK pensioners. read the news here.

and the second is an interesting development as reported in today's Evening Times (Glasgow) - green energy company Scottish & Southern Energy are teaming up with Japanese giant Mitsubishi to work on a new green hi-tech centre of excellence, with 100 jobs being created.