Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

mac2008 wrote: »

Check out http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ for a real time view of our electricity demand and where it is coming from.

What CCGT :huh:

MrsAtobe

Combined Cycle Gas Turbine, allegedly. Nope, I don't know either.:-)

[Deleted User]

CRAIGY Savoy type Cabbages are good stand out ones and January King is capable of surviving well under very cold conditions.

Charis

GreyQueen wrote: »

Speaking of rice, there's an interesting article here: http://apartmentprepper.com/the-dirt-on-riceliterally/ which may be of interest if your diet is rice-heavy right now or your preps include a fair bit of rice.

Wow, thanks for that. I react badly to bread and rice was one of my substitutes Back to porridge oats and other native grains...

nuatha

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

What CCGT :huh:

MrsAtobe wrote: »

Combined Cycle Gas Turbine, allegedly. Nope, I don't know either.:-)

Correct, as opposed to Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) also shown on the webpage.
Back in May Centrica announced plans to sell 3 of these power stations on which it had made an annual loss of £130 million, in order to release funds to upgrade three of the old type OCGTs.

CCGT can reach thermal efficiencies of almost 60% as opposed to the older type reaching 34%. Think large scale combi boiler as opposed to the older gas boilers.

Trying to find the stats for the actual number of CCGTs led me to the Government's Energy Sector analysis 2012. Worryingly with the exception of the Winter 2010-2011 (the so called 1 in 20 winter) domestic energy consumption has been falling since 2004. The same report has the UK as 70% self sufficient - however it doesn't seem to take account of announced power plant closures.

mac2008

nuatha wrote: »

Correct, as opposed to Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) also shown on the webpage.
Back in May Centrica announced plans to sell 3 of these power stations on which it had made an annual loss of £130 million, in order to release funds to upgrade three of the old type OCGTs.

CCGT can reach thermal efficiencies of almost 60% as opposed to the older type reaching 34%. Think large scale combi boiler as opposed to the older gas boilers.

Trying to find the stats for the actual number of CCGTs led me to the Government's Energy Sector analysis 2012. Worryingly with the exception of the Winter 2010-2011 (the so called 1 in 20 winter) domestic energy consumption has been falling since 2004. The same report has the UK as 70% self sufficient - however it doesn't seem to take account of announced power plant closures.

Why are falls in domestic energy consumption worrying?


And yes, it looks like we are becoming less self sufficient, with over 60% of fuel for electricity imported, from as far afield as the middle east, south america and even 5% from Australia!


http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/articles/2012/11/16/where-does-the-uk-s-electricity-come-from

nuatha

mac2008 wrote: »

Why are falls in domestic energy consumption worrying?


And yes, it looks like we are becoming less self sufficient, with over 60% of fuel for electricity imported, from as far afield as the middle east, south america and even 5% from Australia!


http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/articles/2012/11/16/where-does-the-uk-s-electricity-come-from

The politicians have been blaming increasing domestic consumption for the apparent shortfall over the next ten years. repeatedly promoting energy efficiency measures as the answer.
It appears that these energy efficiency measures have been fairly widely adopted and that is the major factor in the falling domestic consumption.
If energy efficiency measures are near saturation point then the forecasts that we're being fed by government are seriously flawed and the predicted shortfall is potentially far worse than the forecasts say. Not that I should be particularly surprised by politicians bending and distorting statistics or lying to the general public. I'm also concerned that this report may well have been massaged before release.

Charis

GreyQueen wrote: »

I've heard that breadmaking is a craft and cake-making an art. I'm a dab hand with breads, and recipes which have a lot of 'give' in them, such as soups and one-pot specials. Cake-making, where the proportions are critical? Hmmm, not so good. Have capsized several ducks with the Victoria sponge frisbees over the years. I hear that these are really easy to make, but have never found it so myself.

This recipe looks fairly foolproof. If you have a food processor or whisk you can usually mix everything at the same time skipping the sugar/fat beating stage. Most of the older recipes only use 2 eggs and the same proportion of other ingredients, hence the biscuit-like result. An over-hot oven can also produce a poor result. The baking powder in SR flour has a limited shelf life, so the flour needs to be in date. I haven't made a sponge for ages, because of the fat/carb loading, but as a treat for a family celebration it beats one of those shop bought things with the chewy fondant casing and insubstantial, over sweet sponge.

A friend, who makes consistently lovely sponges and individual sponges, always weighs the eggs in their shells and uses the same weight in self raising flour, fat and sugar.

craigywv

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

CRAIGY Savoy type Cabbages are good stand out ones and January King is capable of surviving well under very cold conditions.[/QUOTE thanks Lynn I shall go peek and see how much etc... for these seeds I do love savoy. xxx

craigywv

craigywv wrote: »

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

CRAIGY Savoy type Cabbages are good stand out ones and January King is capable of surviving well under very cold conditions.[/QUOTE thanks Lynn I shall go peek and see how much etc... for these seeds I do love savoy. xxx

edit...just checked seems im too late to plant for this winter but shall deffo do them for next year they need to be sown may-june.