Winter blackouts

Broomstick

I still have a teenage diary from the early 70s and made a few notes about power cuts.  They seemed to be a few hours at a time, seemingly random and/or at short notice and sometimes we were sent home from school because the power had gone off.  I also vaguely remember that, if you had a neighbour who was dependent on a continuous electrical supply for medical reasons, then your local area's power would be left on.  I suppose nowadays people who have similar needs are given some means to keep the power going off grid.

Sea_Shell

Ultrasonic said:

Out of interest, in the '70s was there any attempt to persuade people to voluntarily limit/redistribute their energy usage before the rolling power outage approach was introduced? 

You'd hope that given the choice most people could be persuaded to voluntarily say limit their use to lights and maybe a TV in a single room for a period as an alternative to actually have to cut off power completely. 

In the early 70s just think of all the electrical items people just didn't have in the first place.   Not as much to cut back on.   And probably only one TV, which the whole family watched in one room at the same time!!


Cutting back from today's levels of electrical usage will be like asking some to donate a kidney?


Hmmm, I wonder what the average household electricity usage was in the early 70s?

I'm guessing a lot less than the "typical" household today.

Alnat1

In the 70s there would only be a single TV for the household. Many didn't have central heating, so a coal or gas fire in the living room, not that many had a phone in the house either. Twin tub washer, once a week. Definitely no tumble dryers.

I would imagine energy usage was pretty low compared to how we live now, quite hard to cut down in any way

MattMattMattUK

Ultrasonic said:

Out of interest, in the '70s was there any attempt to persuade people to voluntarily limit/redistribute their energy usage before the rolling power outage approach was introduced? 

You'd hope that given the choice most people could be persuaded to voluntarily say limit their use to lights and maybe a TV in a single room for a period as an alternative to actually have to cut off power completely. 

Evidence from the last few years would tend to indicate that whilst some people might, many would not and indeed many may increase their usage in anticipation of any potential power cuts. 

Gerry1

Sea_Shell said:

Ultrasonic said:

Out of interest, in the '70s was there any attempt to persuade people to voluntarily limit/redistribute their energy usage before the rolling power outage approach was introduced? 

You'd hope that given the choice most people could be persuaded to voluntarily say limit their use to lights and maybe a TV in a single room for a period as an alternative to actually have to cut off power completely. 

Hmmm, I wonder what the average household electricity usage was in the early 70s?
I'm guessing a lot less than the "typical" household today.

I rather doubt it.

Most domestic lighting was incandescent: you might have had a fluorescent tube in the kitchen bit that was about it.  Lighting probably used about eight times what an LED bulb would use today.  The TV probably still used valves so that would also have used several times what a larger TV would use today.

Electricity prices were just pocket money compared to today: the quarterly bill came in, you paid it without difficulty and that was that.

Sea_Shell

MattMattMattUK said:

Ultrasonic said:

Out of interest, in the '70s was there any attempt to persuade people to voluntarily limit/redistribute their energy usage before the rolling power outage approach was introduced? 

You'd hope that given the choice most people could be persuaded to voluntarily say limit their use to lights and maybe a TV in a single room for a period as an alternative to actually have to cut off power completely. 

Evidence from the last few years would tend to indicate that whilst some people might, many would not and indeed many may increase their usage in anticipation of any potential power cuts. 

Charge up everything rechargeable.  Get food cooked in advance.
Make a flask of coffee.

Not much else you could pull forward from late evening to earlier?  Dishwasher perhaps?

MattMattMattUK

Alnat1 said:

In the 70s there would only be a single TV for the household. Many didn't have central heating, so a coal or gas fire in the living room, not that many had a phone in the house either. Twin tub washer, once a week. Definitely no tumble dryers.

I would imagine energy usage was pretty low compared to how we live now, quite hard to cut down in any way

Usage is actually less per household than it was in 1970. The current UK household average is 3,731 kWh per year, the 1970 usage was 4,136 kWh per year. Although we have a lot more electronic items in our homes now they are considerably more efficient than they once were. In 1970 people would have used incandescent lightbulbs, each one 60-100 watts, modern LED bulbs use 4-9 watts. Whilst not everyone would have had a fridge or freezer a modern fridge freezer uses around 6% of the energy a 1970's model did, a 1970's 16 inch CRT TV would use around 110 watts, a modern 55 inch OLED consumes around 60 watts. Even radios would have used 20-60 watts, where as a modern smart speaker and router combined would be 15 watts. Phones and laptops use very little, almost negligible amounts. 

So whilst our homes are filled with tech, it is all very efficient. 

MattMattMattUK

Sea_Shell said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Ultrasonic said:

Out of interest, in the '70s was there any attempt to persuade people to voluntarily limit/redistribute their energy usage before the rolling power outage approach was introduced? 

You'd hope that given the choice most people could be persuaded to voluntarily say limit their use to lights and maybe a TV in a single room for a period as an alternative to actually have to cut off power completely. 

Evidence from the last few years would tend to indicate that whilst some people might, many would not and indeed many may increase their usage in anticipation of any potential power cuts. 

Charge up everything rechargeable.  Get food cooked in advance.
Make a flask of coffee.

Not much else you could pull forward from late evening to earlier?  Dishwasher perhaps?

I would imagine there would be people running the dishwasher and washing machine every day to avoid the power cuts, even when not needed, keeping their heating on, or higher so that the home stays warmer longer when there is a cut, that kind of thing. 

Ultrasonic

MattMattMattUK said:

Ultrasonic said:

Out of interest, in the '70s was there any attempt to persuade people to voluntarily limit/redistribute their energy usage before the rolling power outage approach was introduced? 

You'd hope that given the choice most people could be persuaded to voluntarily say limit their use to lights and maybe a TV in a single room for a period as an alternative to actually have to cut off power completely. 

Evidence from the last few years would tend to indicate that whilst some people might, many would not and indeed many may increase their usage in anticipation of any potential power cuts. 

I'm not quite sure what you have in mind here? The successful covid lockdowns are arguably a demonstration of people being willing to do things they don't want to when the alternative is obviously worse.

MattMattMattUK

Ultrasonic said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Ultrasonic said:

Out of interest, in the '70s was there any attempt to persuade people to voluntarily limit/redistribute their energy usage before the rolling power outage approach was introduced? 

You'd hope that given the choice most people could be persuaded to voluntarily say limit their use to lights and maybe a TV in a single room for a period as an alternative to actually have to cut off power completely. 

Evidence from the last few years would tend to indicate that whilst some people might, many would not and indeed many may increase their usage in anticipation of any potential power cuts. 

I'm not quite sure what you have in mind here? The successful covid lockdowns are arguably a demonstration of people being willing to do things they don't want to when the alternative is obviously worse.

I am thinking of the significant minority who refused to follow the rules even in the first lockdown, those who bought up all the toilet roll, those who stripped the shelves of dried and tinned goods etc. Sure many of us were sensible, many of us helped out in our local communities, but many more were incredibly selfish.