Plugged-in Age Feeds A Hunger For Electricity

[spline]

What's that device called and where did you get it from? Cheers

This one's a N67FU Plug-In electricity cost and usage calculator from Maplin, now discounted heavily to £7.99. Rated to 13A/3.120kW; measures current, voltage, frequency, power, and some cost/usage stuff, slightly annoying button programming but basically the middle button tells it to display power in Watts.

Link:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=223573

Edited September 19, 2009 by spline

[XswampyX]

Why don't they just put an On/Off button on the TV? You know, a proper Off button, Why can't I just turn OFF my TV/Video.

WTF!

[SarahBell]

What's that device called and where did you get it from? Cheers

You want an owl.

scary how much the house uses when we're not actually actively using anything.

[Kurt Barlow]

Also great news for those that wish to identify a market opportunity and position themselves on the supply side of the equation. Thast the way I read this.

The growth in electrical energy consumption is very sustainable and will continue to increase as we get better at generating it.

Beautiful stuff that it is.

If ever one wanted a reason to save electricity over money savings and the environment this is it.

Less electricity used = less opportunity for Bardon to crow about how much moola he is making from selling generating fuels

[Kurt Barlow]

G'day mate. If you live in a net energy exporting country like you do, that's true. But in the UK we're energy importers, so every extra kwh adds to the budget deficit of our tattered economy.

The same could be said of the Australian economy

[FortuneFTB]

I've got a 60" Plasma, that eats leccy like nobodys business but to be honest electricity consumption has never come into play when choosing a TV, maybe it will if I ever have trouble paying my electricity bill

Edited September 20, 2009 by FortuneFTB

[geoffk]

I've got a 60" Plasma, that eats leccy like nobodys business but to be honest electricity consumption has never come into play when choosing a TV, maybe it will if I ever have trouble paying my electricity bill

Same here.hence when i buy a car i never bother about running cost because i would never buy it if i thought i could not run it...i do know someone who bought a range rover and had to get rid of it due to petrol costs..

[jimmylad]

these big TV's make my projector a bargain @220w for a 100 inch screen projected onto the wall - picture is superb too - 100" is equivalent to 4x 50" screens area wise

the other day I was looking to buy a spare bulb & was a bit shocked to realise they were 200w

[aa3]

There is a direct correlation between electrical use and standard of living. As we cut back our electrical use, our standard of living will fall. We will watch other nations enjoying new technologies, but forego them and feel self-righteous that we are saving the world.

[winkie]

There is a direct correlation between electrical use and standard of living. As we cut back our electrical use, our standard of living will fall. We will watch other nations enjoying new technologies, but forego them and feel self-righteous that we are saving the world.

I can see the next thing will be every household given a quota that can be taken from the grid, the rest will have to be generated yourself either as a community ie wind turbines or solar panels attached to your property.

[fleabittenmoggie]

This one's a N67FU Plug-In electricity cost and usage calculator from Maplin, now discounted heavily to £7.99. Rated to 13A/3.120kW; measures current, voltage, frequency, power, and some cost/usage stuff, slightly annoying button programming but basically the middle button tells it to display power in Watts.

Link:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=223573

They have the same kind of thing as one of the specials at Aldi today. Same Price too.

Link:

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/2827_11274.htm

[cells]

Heating your home = 4,000 watts average throughout the year

Driving your car = 1,250 watt average

32" TV = 20 watt average

Ipod/mobile phone = 0.05 watts average

Humm, yes, threat about the ipod and the TV.

Articles like this are both stupid and alarmist. Forget about the ipod or TV, they are negligible consumers of power.

500 coal plants my ****. Even if everyone in the world had an ipod it would be 0.35 gigawatts of power or equal to about one fifth of a coal power stations or nuclear station but clearly not everyone in the world has one nor will they have one. Again for comparison the world has over 1,000 gigawatts of power stations.

Edited September 20, 2009 by cells

[Kurt Barlow]

There is a direct correlation between electrical use and standard of living. As we cut back our electrical use, our standard of living will fall. We will watch other nations enjoying new technologies, but forego them and feel self-righteous that we are saving the world.

Not really - very high usage often indicates inefficient use.

The USA uses 12700 kwh per head of pop

Compared to Germany - 6700, UK - 5740, Denmark -6400, Holland - 7200, Japan 7900, France 8700.

All factors considered I wouldn't say that reflects relative living standards in each country - would you?

[cells]

Not really - very high usage often indicates inefficient use.

The USA uses 12700 kwh per head of pop

Compared to Germany - 6700, UK - 5740, Denmark -6400, Holland - 7200, Japan 7900, France 8700.

All factors considered I wouldn't say that reflects relative living standards in each country - would you?

It is more than that

The USA uses 240kWh per person per day or 87,600kWh a year per person, not 12,700.

Country: kWh per person per day

USA 240

Canada 318

Saudi Arabia 199

Australia 182

Russia 154

France 133

japan 127

Germany 121

Spain 114

UK 110

Mexico 49

china 48

turkey 45

Brazil 37

Pakistan 12

India 12

Overall these countries make up 4 billion people and on average they use 65 kWh per person per day. However the comparison isn't totally fair, as energy or product exporters will spend energy making energy and products for other nations.

So in the uk we on average EACH USE 4,600 watts of power all the time. Turning that ipod or phone off would save 0.05 watts. Big help.

Edited September 20, 2009 by cells

[Kurt Barlow]

It is more than that

The USA uses 240kWh per person per day or 87,600kWh a year per person, not 12,700.

Country: kWh per person per day

USA 240

Canada 318

Saudi Arabia 199

Australia 182

Russia 154

France 133

japan 127

Germany 121

Spain 114

UK 110

Mexico 49

china 48

turkey 45

Brazil 37

Pakistan 12

India 12

Overall these countries make up 4 billion people and on average they use 65 kWh per person per day. However the comparison isn't totally fair, as energy or product exporters will spend energy making energy and products for other nations.

So in the uk we on average EACH USE 4,600 watts of power all the time. Turning that ipod or phone off would save 0.05 watts. Big help.

I assume you are talking total energy consumed as opposed to electricity which is what I was referring to?

Remember it typically takes 3 units of 'energy' to make 1 unit of electricity.

Savings on 10's millions of IPODs, TV,s lights will translate into fairly significant energy savings and deferred investment as less generating capacity is needed.

[xux42]

Canada 318

Presumably that's due to gas guzzling trucks and heating.

Canadians seem good eggs on the whole but they really need to think about their energy consumption if this figure is true. Would it be such a hardship to drive smaller engined vehicles, insulate homes and commercial premesis, wear jumpers indoors etc?

Having an abundance of energy resources doesn't make waste acceptable.

[evictee]

Not really - very high usage often indicates inefficient use.

The USA uses 12700 kwh per head of pop

Compared to Germany - 6700, UK - 5740, Denmark -6400, Holland - 7200, Japan 7900, France 8700.

All factors considered I wouldn't say that reflects relative living standards in each country - would you?

Er, yes!

[Guest happy?]

There is a direct correlation between electrical use and standard of living. As we cut back our electrical use, our standard of living will fall. We will watch other nations enjoying new technologies, but forego them and feel self-righteous that we are saving the world.

There isn't any correlation between electricity consumption and standard of living at all - though there is a correlation between debt-fuelled consumerism, electricity consumption and personal bankruptcy.

People who choose not to buy into the excesses of consumerism are not foregoing anything: - that you think so shows how far you measure personal fulfillment and wealth in terms of product-ownership.

My CRT TV works just fine - I like it that way, it's fifteen years old, doesn't consume much power and I don't have to spend my time permanently debt-ridden just to sate some false desire for this year's gadgets.

[Kurt Barlow]

Er, yes!

So you would take the position that living standards as a whole are twice as high in the USA compared to the UK, Holland, Denmark, Germany?

[Kurt Barlow]

There isn't any correlation between electricity consumption and standard of living at all - though there is a correlation between debt-fuelled consumerism, electricity consumption and personal bankruptcy.

People who choose not to buy into the excesses of consumerism are not foregoing anything: - that you think so shows how far you measure personal fulfillment and wealth in terms of product-ownership.

My CRT TV works just fine - I like it that way, it's fifteen years old, doesn't consume much power and I don't have to spend my time permanently debt-ridden just to sate some false desire for this year's gadgets.

I suspect the optimum usage for living standards is somewhere around the European average of 5-7000kwh / pa. The very high rates of consumption in the USA, Canada, Australia, and some Middle eastern Countries do little to improve living standards.

Total agree - a CRT that uses half the power - is your standard of living half that of some plank with a 42 inch plasma?

[cells]

I assume you are talking total energy consumed as opposed to electricity which is what I was referring to?

yes energy consumed which is all important

Savings on 10's millions of IPODs, TV,s lights will translate into fairly significant energy savings and deferred investment as less generating capacity is needed.

The thing is, it won’t make a difference. The article is ********.

I am all for conservation but what they talk about is rubbish.

Total energy consumption = about 12,000,000 megawatts

Adding another 100 million ipods would add 15 megawatts of power (5MW of electric)

Adding another 100 million phones would add 15 megawatts of power.

32 inch LCD probably use about the same as the older 22 inch CRT so no saving or addition there.

So adding 30 to 12,000,000 is what we need to stop??

Small gadgets use almost no power in comparison to the big 3 of

Heating

Transport

Stuff (making things, eg, steel, concrete, houses, food, etc)

If they want to conserve power and or fossil fuels then address the first of those 3 which is the easiest one to reduce easil. The second big one is to address transport and that can be solved by self drive cars. The third one you cannot make a big dent in but you have already decreased consumption by more than 50% if you fix the first two.

But no, complaining about ipods and mobile phone chargers is the way forward!

[cells]

Presumably that's due to gas guzzling trucks and heating.

Canadians seem good eggs on the whole but they really need to think about their energy consumption if this figure is true. Would it be such a hardship to drive smaller engined vehicles, insulate homes and commercial premesis, wear jumpers indoors etc?

Having an abundance of energy resources doesn't make waste acceptable.

As I said in my post, you cannot look at energy or product exporting countries without taking into account those things.

China uses about 50kWh a day per person however china exports a lot of things so it will be exporting energy with those products. Hence the actual will be less, say 40kWh per person per day used and 10kWh exported.

I believe Canada spends a lot of energy producing energy and shipping it. Especially on things like the tar sands.

Plus the figures are total energy used and not energy of a type.

Canada produces a lot of hydro power relative to its population size so a lot of the 300 plus will be from hydro.

Plus living in a cold country cant help.

[Guest happy?]

I suspect the optimum usage for living standards is somewhere around the European average of 5-7000kwh / pa. The very high rates of consumption in the USA, Canada, Australia, and some Middle eastern Countries do little to improve living standards.

Total agree - a CRT that uses half the power - is your standard of living half that of some plank with a 42 inch plasma?

Agree with you there Kurt. There's an implied correlation between consumption and living standard, but higher rates of consumption do not provide proof of a higher living standard. Similarly, a country with average consumption could just as easily be exporting energy or be inefficient and have a low overall standard.

The more you consider average consumption as a benchmark the less useful it becomes!

[cells]

So you would take the position that living standards as a whole are twice as high in the USA compared to the UK, Holland, Denmark, Germany?

It won’t be a liner function. It will be exponential.

So to double living standard you may need to increase energy consumption by 5x.

There will also be a saturation point where using more doesn’t really increase living standards at all.

The big one with America is oil consumption mainly in their transport. Per person it is double the UK. However in 2007 they used 942 million tonnes of oil and in 2008 it was 885 million tonnes which is quite a decrease. America could reduce its oil usage to under 700 million tonnes if they adopted a UK type car fleet.

[cells]

Agree with you there Kurt. There's an implied correlation between consumption and living standard, but higher rates of consumption do not provide proof of a higher living standard. Similarly, a country with average consumption could just as easily be exporting energy or be inefficient and have a low overall standard.

The more you consider average consumption as a benchmark the less useful it becomes!

Standard of life is a subjective measure.

Wealth in the form of material things and service however does correlate to energy consumption, although not linear.

Also if you can afford the 42 inch plasma it indicates you can afford healthcare, while if you bought a second hand 20 inch black and white TV then you probably cant afford healthcare. So stuff indicates wealth which indicates standard of life and usually the higher energy consuming stuff is more expensive, think of a tiny car for £6k vs a truck for £20k.