Greenism in it's death throes

[EternalOptimist]

a typical installation would be about 2.5 - 3 kwh
and provide 50% of your annual lekky.


but that 3kwh is maximum, you will get none at night and only a fraction in the winter

[AtW]

Stop having civil conversation and start

[TimberWolf]

Cheers. I understand the cost sides. It's the KWH bit that loses me. Reading up on the article at the weekend it was doing the whole calculation from KWH.

For example, the article I read earlier Sainsbury's pioneers revolutionary green energy kinetic plate system | Environment | guardian.co.uk talks about 30KWH generated per hour which it says powers their till system. I'm trying to get my head around what is generated. The house next door for example has 12 solar panels on it's roof. The other article I read at the weekend was about a guy who invented a car port with a solar panel on it's roof. He is trying to get outside car parks to install them. So for example, a 1500 bay open car park at somewhere like Legoland for example, would cost say £10k per port, but would generate ??? KWH which would calculate to X per KWH or would power Y houses?

Just trying to understand it. Gonna read up on it later.

A kWh is an amount of energy in joules, 3,600,000 joules to be precise (1000W * 60 * 60 seconds). 1 kWh is about the energy a good car battery can hold, a kettle uses in 20 minutes, 2 sticks of dynamite, 1/12 kg of petrol, etc.

[MarillionFan]

A kWh is an amount of energy in joules, 3,600,000 joules to be precise (1000W * 60 * 60 seconds). 1 kWh is about the energy a good car battery can hold, a kettle uses in 20 minutes, 2 sticks of dynamite, 1/12 kg of petrol, etc.

(Going to build a spreadsheet model and start by working out my house consumption)

Leaving electrical appliances in "standby mode", rather than turning them off at the wall, has long been cited as waste of electricity. Statistics about how many power stations we could decommission if we all turned off our TVs are often in the press, but usually with little substance to back these claims up. Sustainable Girton have been measuring some typical household appliances to see how much they really use in standby, how much you could save if you turned them all off, and how this relates to other energy saving measures.
We measured a number of appliances that are commonly left on or in standby. While your particular model of TV might use more or less than these, our results should give you a rough idea of how much power is involved, and should you want to measure your own devices we'd be happy to help.

DeviceStandby (Watts)On (Watts)Hi-fi/Stereo 1222TV10100Video recorder113DVD player712Digital TV set top box56Computer + peripherals15130Computer monitor1170Laptop computer229Broadband modem1414Answering machine33Battery charger214Mobile phone charger15Total:83 Watts418 Watts
This comes to a total of 83 Watts in standby which if left running all year amounts to a cost of about £75: 83 Watts for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year is 727 kWh (units of electricity) and each unit currently costs about 10p. This is not an insignificant sum by any means, and so it is clearly financially beneficial to turn things off.
Environmentally speaking, the generation of this electricity will result in the production of over 300 kg of CO2 each year [1]. To give you an idea of what this means, it is roughly equivalent to the pollution produced by driving 870 miles in a typical car [2] (i.e. just over two miles per day), or about 10% of the pollution from the average person's annual electricity and gas use [3].
There are clearly bigger ways to make a difference to the amount of energy you use -- avoiding one short car journey per day for example -- but cutting out the wasted energy of appliances on standby is an easy change to make. It really surprised us how much some appliances use, and how much this adds up to when left on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If you would like to measure your own appliances, then please get in touch and we'd be happy to help.
[1] This is calculated taking account of the various different ways in which electricity is generated in the UK, and the various sources of inefficiency such as transmission losses, using the National Energy Foundation's calculator. Each kWh of electricity generates 0.43kg of CO2. 727 kWh * 0.43 = 313 kg.
[2] Using the same calculator, you can compare different fuels. Each mile in a typical car generates 0.36 kg of CO2. 313 kg / 0.36 = 868 miles.
[3] Using Carbon Footprint results, the average UK consumption of domestic fuels (i.e. the total for the home, water heating, cooking and electrical appliances section) is 2.8 tonnes of CO2. 313 kg is a little over 10% of this.

[TimberWolf]

(Going to build a spreadsheet model and start by working out my house consumption)

Leaving electrical appliances in "standby mode", rather than turning them off at the wall, has long been cited as waste of electricity. Statistics about how many power stations we could decommission if we all turned off our TVs are often in the press, but usually with little substance to back these claims up. Sustainable Girton have been measuring some typical household appliances to see how much they really use in standby, how much you could save if you turned them all off, and how this relates to other energy saving measures.
We measured a number of appliances that are commonly left on or in standby. While your particular model of TV might use more or less than these, our results should give you a rough idea of how much power is involved, and should you want to measure your own devices we'd be happy to help.

DeviceStandby (Watts)On (Watts)Hi-fi/Stereo 1222TV10100Video recorder113DVD player712Digital TV set top box56Computer + peripherals15130Computer monitor1170Laptop computer229Broadband modem1414Answering machine33Battery charger214Mobile phone charger15Total:83 Watts418 Watts
This comes to a total of 83 Watts in standby which if left running all year amounts to a cost of about £75: 83 Watts for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year is 727 kWh (units of electricity) and each unit currently costs about 10p. This is not an insignificant sum by any means, and so it is clearly financially beneficial to turn things off.
Environmentally speaking, the generation of this electricity will result in the production of over 300 kg of CO2 each year [1]. To give you an idea of what this means, it is roughly equivalent to the pollution produced by driving 870 miles in a typical car [2] (i.e. just over two miles per day), or about 10% of the pollution from the average person's annual electricity and gas use [3].
There are clearly bigger ways to make a difference to the amount of energy you use -- avoiding one short car journey per day for example -- but cutting out the wasted energy of appliances on standby is an easy change to make. It really surprised us how much some appliances use, and how much this adds up to when left on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If you would like to measure your own appliances, then please get in touch and we'd be happy to help.
[1] This is calculated taking account of the various different ways in which electricity is generated in the UK, and the various sources of inefficiency such as transmission losses, using the National Energy Foundation's calculator. Each kWh of electricity generates 0.43kg of CO2. 727 kWh * 0.43 = 313 kg.
[2] Using the same calculator, you can compare different fuels. Each mile in a typical car generates 0.36 kg of CO2. 313 kg / 0.36 = 868 miles.
[3] Using Carbon Footprint results, the average UK consumption of domestic fuels (i.e. the total for the home, water heating, cooking and electrical appliances section) is 2.8 tonnes of CO2. 313 kg is a little over 10% of this.

My local library hires those electricity monitors out, for free I think. Lots of good freebies are to be had down the local library. All to be taken away soon I expect.

[TimberWolf]

Last year, it was also reported that pedestrians' footsteps could be used to power lighting at shopping centres.

I like the way they describe this as free energy. Yes, free to the collectors all right, but not to pedestrians who will feel as if they are walking through molasses, or maybe chocolate and whipped cream.

[pjclarke]

Yah. Greens in disarray. Support ebbing away. Got that. No WAY they'd ever get an MP elected to parliament..... erm.



(Brighton & Hove, share of vote 2010)

So it goes, another classic CUK AGW post, ie more 'science' from the opinion pages of a right wing publication, this time from Terence Corcoran and the FP. Just my opinion but Corcoran wouldn't know a fact if it bit him on the bum. A trait that is getting him and the National/Financial Post sued for libel by an actual scientist.

So it goes.

[MarillionFan]

Yah. Greens in disarray. Support ebbing away. Got that. No WAY they'd ever get an MP elected to parliament..... erm.



(Brighton & Hove, share of vote 2010)

So it goes, another classic CUK AGW post, ie more 'science' from the opinion pages of a right wing publication, this time from Terence Corcoran and the FP. Just my opinion but Corcoran wouldn't know a fact if it bit him on the bum. A trait that is getting him and the National/Financial Post sued for libel by an actual scientist.

So it goes.

Cough.



Good choice of demographic.

[shaunbhoy]

Of course there will be people who still believe in this crap,

Indeed, the very people that still believe in imaginary deities, the tooth fairy, copper bracelets for rheumatism, and Santa!

but the point is when they're bragging about their solar panels at a party, people will be sniggering behind their back.

Always assuming they get invited to any parties, other than ones where they are expected to give presentations to insomniacs that don't respond favourably to hard drugs, in the hope of inducing some soporific effect!

[EternalOptimist]

(Going to build a spreadsheet model and start by working out my house consumption)

Leaving electrical appliances in "standby mode", rather than turning them off at the wall, has long been cited as waste of electricity. Statistics about how many power stations we could decommission if we all turned off our TVs are often in the press, but usually with little substance to back these claims up. Sustainable Girton have been measuring some typical household appliances to see how much they really use in standby, how much you could save if you turned them all off, and how this relates to other energy saving measures.
We measured a number of appliances that are commonly left on or in standby. While your particular model of TV might use more or less than these, our results should give you a rough idea of how much power is involved, and should you want to measure your own devices we'd be happy to help.

DeviceStandby (Watts)On (Watts)Hi-fi/Stereo 1222TV10100Video recorder113DVD player712Digital TV set top box56Computer + peripherals15130Computer monitor1170Laptop computer229Broadband modem1414Answering machine33Battery charger214Mobile phone charger15Total:83 Watts418 Watts
This comes to a total of 83 Watts in standby which if left running all year amounts to a cost of about £75: 83 Watts for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year is 727 kWh (units of electricity) and each unit currently costs about 10p. This is not an insignificant sum by any means, and so it is clearly financially beneficial to turn things off.
Environmentally speaking, the generation of this electricity will result in the production of over 300 kg of CO2 each year [1]. To give you an idea of what this means, it is roughly equivalent to the pollution produced by driving 870 miles in a typical car [2] (i.e. just over two miles per day), or about 10% of the pollution from the average person's annual electricity and gas use [3].
There are clearly bigger ways to make a difference to the amount of energy you use -- avoiding one short car journey per day for example -- but cutting out the wasted energy of appliances on standby is an easy change to make. It really surprised us how much some appliances use, and how much this adds up to when left on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If you would like to measure your own appliances, then please get in touch and we'd be happy to help.
[1] This is calculated taking account of the various different ways in which electricity is generated in the UK, and the various sources of inefficiency such as transmission losses, using the National Energy Foundation's calculator. Each kWh of electricity generates 0.43kg of CO2. 727 kWh * 0.43 = 313 kg.
[2] Using the same calculator, you can compare different fuels. Each mile in a typical car generates 0.36 kg of CO2. 313 kg / 0.36 = 868 miles.
[3] Using Carbon Footprint results, the average UK consumption of domestic fuels (i.e. the total for the home, water heating, cooking and electrical appliances section) is 2.8 tonnes of CO2. 313 kg is a little over 10% of this.

Leaving things on standby costs you money, it does not cost energy - another smokescreen from the greenies.

CO2 is not a pollutant. It is a trace gas that feeds plants. If there were no co2 there would be no life, co2 levels at the moment are very very low , the planet has survived much higher levels in the past. There are good arguments that increasing CO2 as we are is actually a brilliant move for life on earth.