The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

thriftwizard

Just a word on gas hobs with flame failure devices: mine (6 years old, Rangemaster) can be lit with a match if there's no 'leccy. Yes, it turns itself straight off if there's no flame, but it doesn't seem to care where the flame came from. 

I was a jump ahead with the stove; I deliberately chose one that had just enough space on top to fit my smaller cast iron casseroles & frying pans! (It'll keep stuff simmering brilliantly but takes forever to fry an egg; it's only 5Kw as the living room's pretty tiny.) There are other ways of cooking with a stove, too; baked potatoes or apples wrapped in foil, popped into the ash pan & retrieved with tongs, chestnuts in a chestnut pan when it's down to embers, with the door open, or toast on a toasting fork at that stage - dripping's optional! Obviously not safe with small children or boisterous dogs around, and much care is called for, but these are all things we did from about the age of 5 upwards, on stoves (a Rayburn Princess in our case) or even open fires. Teaching your kids how to safely make fires, and how to cook on them, is on of those things like swimming or how to tie effective knots that could save their life one day, and if you don't know how yourself, scouts/guides/woodcraft folk & the like all do.

greenbee

CCW007 said:

ETA - what I wanted to say and failed to is that I think EVs can actually be good for load balancing the national grid rather than just putting extra pressure on it.

There's a lot of research that suggest that this is the case - particularly with smart meters and tech that will allow charging when demand is low. 

Let's just hope that a bit more investment goes into upgrading the grid. 

DawnW

I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area, but I have often wondered why there has always been an emphasis on a 'national' grid when a series of local grids might work better / be more stable / sustainable?

MingVase

Maybe there isn't enough capacity locally? I know the Highlands feed a lot of hydro electricity down south to England beause they have spare.

GreyQueen

DawnW said:

I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area, but I have often wondered why there has always been an emphasis on a 'national' grid when a series of local grids might work better / be more stable / sustainable?

  I think local grids wouldn't work. I suspect that, historically, local grids became national ones. Also, how local is local? Greater London is the greatest population density of the whole of the UK, could its energy demands be created and served locally? How do you balance the needs of heavy industry vs the needs of household consumers? What about day and night demand fluctuations, winter and summer fluctuations? Would heavy industry only be able to set up in areas which had a surplus of power? In which case, picturesque areas near hydro dams should be very worried. How would it work for places on the boundary of grid areas? Could some places be un-served by local grids, as just too inconveniently placed to be economic to supply? Even the USA has only three regional grids covering its whole continent-spanning country, as far as I'm aware.

My own household is using 2.5-3 kwH of electricity in 24 hours, which has been consistant for many years. Obviously, the fridge and freezer are running overnight, but otherwise, like everybody, I'm using more electricity during waking hours.

Si_Clist

Gosh, is it any wonder that the GBP seem to by and large have lost interest in Covid-19?  Last I heard, Doris was (finally!) admitting to the nation that things are going to get a bit dire before much longer, so be good and follow the guidelines (if you can remember what they are today).  Now, it seems that he's urging folks to " go out to the cinema, enjoy themselves and support movie theatres." 

Oy vey! 

And I'm not even Jewish ...

MingVase

I'm in hysterics here. Between him rabbiting nonsense and his govt losing 16000 cases of covid then finding them (down the back of a sofa, somebody said) - and Trump all over twitter off his face on steroids yelling nonsense IN CAPS, it's like a monty python film.

Si_Clist

MingVase said:

I'm in hysterics here. Between him rabbiting nonsense and his govt losing 16000 cases of covid then finding them (down the back of a sofa, somebody said) - and Trump all over twitter off his face on steroids yelling nonsense IN CAPS, it's like a monty python film.

Weird, isn't it.  It's all a bit like it was at times in the 60s, but without the need for a spliff ...

MingVase

Is this what they meant by "Interesting times" ..

missychrissy

John Bishop has summed it up nicely on YouTube with ‘we have to thank Boris’. Well worth a watch - kind of puts it into perspective.