Tuesday
Jan042011
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Planning for power cuts
Jan 4, 2011 Energy Commenter Lord Beaverbrook has asked if we can have a thread to discuss solutions to the power cuts that so many are predicting now that successive governments appear to have saddled us with a power generation system that will not provide sufficient power.
I think we should consider two issues - firstly whether there is a genuine need for households to get back up power supplies and secondly, if backup power is required, what form it should take.
Reader Comments (118)
Yes, I think there is a need for household backup. The local distribution company has given us two significant power cuts in the past month, messing up various electrical items in the process. While that was probably due to their under investment rather than lack of enough electricity to go round, the loss of all electricity was difficult, as it takes out heating as well as light, tv and t'internet, We have just put in a new boiler and am gently wondering if we made a mistake by not getting one of the ones which also generates a kilowatt of electricity on the side.
The technologies for providing electricity on motor cruisers would transfer to land with ease and deep pockets. Register & check Nigel Calder's articles in the back issues here.
http://www.proboat.com/digital-issues.html
Diesel generator plus deep cycle batteries, plus intelligent inverter. 3-4 generator hours per day should provide all the power required. It's all in the articles.
I suggest the absolute minimum is a solid fuel fire so you can at least keep warm and prevent pipes freezing up. And even warm up a kettle or a pan of soup.
You can get some excellent room heater type stoves which will burn smokeless fuel or wood. But you do need to have or install a flue.
There are plently of posher set ups if you've got the money, including wood furnaces as well as diesel generators. But for reasonably short power outages you can probably sort out some lighting either with candles, an oil lamp or batteries.
Just remember your childhood. Could even be quite romantic, if your luck is in.
Annoying not to have a computer, once laptop batteries have gone but you'll survive.
There's now't on the telly anyway.
'The “retirement” of a string of nuclear and coal-fired power stations will see 37 per cent of the UK’s generation disappear by 2015, partly because of EU environmental directives.'
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/60259/Blackout-Britain-warningBlackout-Britain-warning
This is the kind of story that started my concern about maintaining electrical power for residential properties. To maintain and replace existing old generation plant is going to cost in the region of £100 billion which prior to the recession could of been possible.
The worrying part of the equation is that this money has not been costed out by the current government who seem to be hell bent on investing in wind technology to try and alleviate the problem.
Living in the Northeast US, New Hampshire we seem to lose power in the winter months due to ice on power lines, falling trees, etc. It has become almost a necessity to have backup power. Because we are close to the Atlantic Ocean, we do get some mild hurricane like winds once in a while so wind might be an option. I'm aware of one wind turbine in town owned by a wealthy guy. The state of Massachusettes (Taxachusettes) does have wind turbines off the coast so that might be an option. around here.
Most people have diesel or gas generators which run anywhere from $800 to $7000 depending on your taste. I was able to find a Chinese company that makes quiet gas powered generators similar to Honda's quality and quietness but half the price. I can repost that company when I find it.
A co-worker installs solar. Here is some of his work which cost the homeowner about $17,000 to install. It does cover his electrical needs and does put power back on the grid when his use is low. This house also has geo-thermal heating.
Either way, seems to be pricey no matter which option you go with. I believe tax incentives are available in NH for homeowners who install alternative/renewable energy solutions.
Why not look at hydrogen fuel cells to replace old fashioned power generation altogether?
Surely that's where great advances could be made in many aspects of energy provision.
Generators fueled by coke and puppies.
Here it is: http://www.duropower.com/ Good quality, quiet. My neighbor bought a high-end one of these and loves it. Does the job when the power goes out.
Hydrogen fuel cells are merely a way of storing energy produced by burning another kind of fuel. So you need vast amounts of electricity for instance to create Hydrogen that can be turned back into electricity in a fuel cell.
It annoys me that the fuel cell and Hydrogen generally is trotted out as a solution when it is merely a method of storing energy...
It also annoys me that the government keeps on about Electric cars without anybody in the media asking where the power to charge the batteries will come from.
@ Martin Brumby
Yup, been there done that, had a week long outage some years back. Candles with mirrors behind them. Open fire, we have a 2 ring and grill calor type stove and keep a couple of bottles of Gaz.
The biggest issue turned out to be water. For a lot of domestic supply, and removal it has to be pumped. We got a tip off from local water employee and filled bath etc. Used water from outside butts to flush WC. This could prove to be a mega issue in overcrowded UK inner cities, especially high rise accomodation.
We also keep a battery radio so news is available. During the outage the local radio station were giving out tips. One famous one being that you can make candles last longer if you put them in the fridge first! Gas fridge maybe?
I live in Oregon, which in many ways is still the wild west of old. Here most electrical distribution is still above ground on wooden poles. Our small estate (of 9 houses) has underground delivery, but only until you reach the end of the (short) road servicing our houses, when it reappears and zooms up a pole to tap into the overhead supply.
For most houses, there is a transformer at the top of a pole, converting the 11kv supply to a 120-0-120 supply which flys overhead to the house.
Not surprisingly, this system is very susceptible to bad weather and poor drivers. We get frequent ice storms (freezing rain) and on bad days we can sit and watch big bright blue flashes as ice laden branches sag or break and short out the supply. Sometimes there is an even bigger blue flash as a transformer blows up.
Besides the delivery system being rather poor, the supply itself is threatened. The Pacific NW used to have the most abundant and cheap power in the country due to hydro electric generation. However, the "dams are evil and must go" brigade have had a lot of success, and the liberal government had decided that wind power is the way to go. What reliable power is left is being sold to California to help out their Democrat brothers over the border suffering form year of neglect and idiocy with their own generation and distribution systems.
Given the above, power cuts (or outages as they are called here) are less frequent than they could be, but still occur frequently enough to make backup power something of a necessity.
I bought a 6KVA petrol generator (Yamaha, been very reliable), and added a second distribution box with several circuits re-routed through it. Just a matter of firing up the generator and flipping the big swich to change the secondary distribution box input from "mains" to generator.
It powers Living room lights and sockets, toilet (essential! - no windows!), laundrette lights, hall lights, freezer(s), fridge, microwave, water pump (for well) and my office which has all the Internet stuff in it.
Sounds ok, you think?
The problem is, it isn't sufficient. It certainly works to keep us relatively comfortable for the several hours that power is typically off, but our whole house is electric, and 6KVA just isn't enough to consider adding in the heat pump (for heating/cooling) and water heaters, to say nothing of washer/dryer etc.
Then there is the problem of storing petrol. Petrol doesn't store well, especially the adulterated crap forced on us here (10% Ethanol) which rots supply lines, gaskets etc. and clogs jets.
What I really want is a real generator (diesel, 30KVA, soundproof enclosure, auto-start) to just take over when the power goes out, and keep the whole house running. My real problem is finding the $15K to finance it.
Admittedly, my circumstances are a little different to what you would typically find in the UK, which tend not to be 100% electric houses, but think hard before deciding that a couple of batteries and a 2KVA inverter are all you need. Are they really? Especially when you have cold such as has recently been experienced, for a day, maybe two?
IMHO 2KVA (for as long as the batteries last) is really the equivalent of sitting in your cave around a flickering tallow candle.
Decide if you just want light and keep the fridge running, or do you want (at least short term) independence. If you want the latter, its not cheap, and its a lot more power than you think.
Um...hydrogen fuel cells just store energy. The original has to come from somewhere, such as "old fashioned power generation". Fuel cells could bridge across a short power outage, but won't replace basic generation. I happen to believe that wind power is too erratic to even think about pairing with fuel cells to even out availability. Solar cells might work, although there are issues with lifespan and the lowered availability of power during snowy winter days. Extra capacity in terms of either fuel cells or extra solar cells might alleviate some of this, but at extra cost. Fuel cells have an efficiency of about 50%. Solar cells, I believe, are still around 10%. Also, although fuel cells have no moving parts, the membranes tend to fail and are rather expensive. Don't think 30 years for a system like you might have with an old fashioned furnace.
10 million solid oxide fuel cells producing 1 kW electrical and 1.6 kW thermal would make the population independent of the grid and replace the 10 GW windmills that can't be built because the grid can't take the power variability.
Add in anaerobic digesters in every sewage plant to keep sewage treatment independent of the grid and pipe the excess methane to local housing.
Plus 5 GW alkaline fuel cells powered by CCS/underground coal gasification to kick start the hydrogen economy and provide fast standby power for the wind turbines
I shall be burning politicians. Tips on prep welcome (eg length of seasoning period, best cuts for a good burn etc).
BBD
Have you ever tried CLEANING a politician? Good luck.
If you have a car you already have a means to generate your own electricity in an emergency, although it might not be terribly practical. A 12v inverter would allow you to run household appliances, charge up some batteries, that sort of thing.
You have to take into consideration your own personal needs and ask some pertinent questions.
How many in your family, do you have elderly relatives, children or babies that could be similarily affected?
Is electricity your sole power or as many have, do you have gas supply as well?
What would you expect to be able to do if there was a power out for 24 to 48 hours, cooking, heating, washing, be in contact with the outside world?
Take my needs as an example:
Family of 5, youngest 4 years old, with elderly relatives close by.
Besides electricity there is gas cental heating and cooker, and an open log fire.
Without mains electricity we could cook and keep two rooms warm, lighting with candles. Water supply is gravity fed.
With a 5.5Kva backup generator we can maintain warmth throughout the house, maintain lighting, bring the elderly relatives in with ease and retain the ability to continue the day to day routine albeit not doing energy intense operations such as washing and drying clothes or using hairdryers and the main flat screen tv.
It all comes down to risk assesment, If there is no electricity what steps can be taken to maintain the health and well being of my family.
Wossat then, fried cleggs, scrambled cleggs, poached is off, devilled is off.
Served with brown stew.
Yearish ago was fried haig, scrambled haig.
See, always go to work on an egg.
@Gareth
I have done this with a power inverter that I hooked up to my car and ran an extension cord to the house. I paid about $30 for the inverter, but it doesn't do much. Mine looks something like this one. It can run about one small appliance at a time. It can run the TV and the cable box at the same time, but not a microwave oven.
About us
http://www.gocpc.com/about.html
Community Power Corporation
http://www.gocpc.com/
Can the output capacity of the BioMax be scaled up or down from the current size?
Yes. To date we have developed systems having electrical capacities of 5 kW, 12.5 kW, 15 kW, 25 kW, 50 kW and 75 kW. We believe the max upside is in the range of 500 kW.
http://www.gocpc.com/faq.html
http://www.gocpc.com/biomass-resources.html
http://www.gocpc.com/products.html
http://www.gocpc.com/biopower.html
Don Pablo
Ha!
I live at the end of a remote power line and am susceptible to power cuts of varying duration. My concern is that when the electricity supply crunch comes in a few years time, it is remote areas that will be first to be black-ed out and the last to be brought back on. No doubt cities will take priority and will avoid rolling black-outs. I am also vulnerable to being cut off by snow. I heat the house by oil, but that needs electricity to power the pump. I have my own supply of wood and can heat part of the house from a wood-burner and I have a gas-powered camping stove. However I aslo have three freezers and my main concern is keeping them running. Thus I am contemplating a generator to automatically fire-up on a black-out and be able to provide electricity for the essentials for say a month. Gas or diesel?
To BBD: As politicians are rather like wood, I would think they would need drying for at least one year for each inch of thickness. Prescott would take years, but I guess if rendered first, you could make a lot of candles before burning the rest.
07/12/2010
Electricity producers express concern over elevated targets
EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01 TUESDAY 7 DECEMBER 2010
Responding to the Committee on Climate Change fourth carbon budget for Government, which recommends a 60% carbon emissions reduction by 2030, electricity producers express concern over elevated targets and suggestions for the future of the electricity market.
David Porter, Chief Executive of the Association of Electricity Producers said:
‘We accept the principle that, to achieve longer-term carbon reduction ambitions, short and medium term investment decisions have to be on the low-carbon path. But, the sums of money required mean that the electricity industry has to attract massive new investment - £200 billion by 2020 and another huge sum in the following decade. In the present financial climate, there is a serious risk that this will not be available. But, if these huge sums are to be attracted to the UK, there must be a clear, credible and stable political and regulatory environment. We do not have that today, because our market is out of synch with the UK’s highly demanding low carbon agenda.
‘Furthermore, in the last few days, we have seen the Select Committee recommend an ‘Emissions Performance Standard’, which would add an extra layer of emissions regulation (the industry already has an EU-wide cap on CO2 emissions) and which would add to uncertainty and deter investment. Now the Committee on Climate Change is recommending tighter carbon limits in the near-term and an entirely new process – tendering – for low carbon electricity generating capacity.
‘As we discuss all this, the government is preparing a vital consultation (expected before Christmas) about reform of the electricity market, aimed at encouraging massive investment in low carbon electricity production. It is this consultation which the industry awaits anxiously and which we shall focus on intensely. The outcome of the government’s consultation will determine whether in the future we have a low carbon electricity supply which not only meets environmental ambitions, but, is reliable and cost-effective.’
Have you got room for another tip jar Bish?
@Phillip
Living through several blackouts, I do remember diesel being hard to come by during the blackout. Could be just our area....or you may need to travel to find it. And during our last big blackout last year, several roads were closed to downed trees. So stock up before the blackout hits.
I've got one of these - http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/pages/HondaEU20i.htm
It has two UK sockets so I could run the oil central heating and all computer equipment for a home business.
I also keep an eye on this site - http://modernsurvivalblog.com/
A neighbor installed a propane heater last year. It was roughly $900 if I remember correctly to install. It burns clean and keeps the house warm enough to survive. He does not have an exhaust system which is surprising, but there appear to be no fumes or issues. Unlike the kerosene heaters in the 80's that gave off powerful fumes. He really only had to hook up a propane line. Overall much cheaper than wood, wood pellets & generators.
Think caravan and equip your spare room appropriately.
and remember, have a stash of claim forms. You're entitled to £50 for the first 18 hours, with £25 for each further 12 hours without power. If the power cut is the result of severe weather then you're entitled to £25 for the first 24 hours or 48 hours depending on the severity of the weather and £25 for each further 12 hours.
You can claim for compensation by writing to your regional electricity regulator within three months of power being restored. Your regional electricity regulator is the company that owns the electrical wiring and infrastructure in your area.
Also in most cases if you are without gas for more than 24 hours, you are entitled to compensation of £30 under the Gas Guaranteed Standards. You are also entitled to an extra £30 for every 24 hours you are without gas.
Green Sand reminded me. When the power goes out, water does become a commodity like many things. We then have two types of water...drinking and flushing. We take trips to the local stream to fill gallon jugs for flushing. Showers happen at the local gym, friends with power, or employment.
As well, mobile tower repeaters lose power which makes mobile reception spotty at best.
Having lived "up north" in the Eastern Arctic, backup systems were a necessity.
We used multiple systems
- a wood stove for heat - we used wood pellets because they were easy to store & use. Heating is the biggest energy use in a home so we had a stand-alone solution
- a propane powered inverter generator - propane is much easier to store than gasoline, can be stored for years and had the advantage of powering our BBQ as well as providing electricity in emergencies.
Worked well enough . . . the system wasn't wired in to the house, we just pressed a button to start the generator out on the porch and then had a big thick extension cord running into the house with an 8 plug distribution box at the end. Simple but effective.
Is it needed?
Yes
I look forward to seeing all your suggestions.
Alaska's capital goes green after avalanche cuts power lines
By David Usborne
Saturday, 17 May 2008
In all, the city, unreachable by road and with a population of 30,000, has managed to cut consumption by 30 per cent in less than a month, a margin some experts had thought impossible.
But the greatest contribution may have come from homeowners themselves, who have done everything from lighting paraffin lamps to rigging up clotheslines – tumble-driers being one of the greediest of household appliances – and forgetting the ironing. It seems that even in energy-guzzling America people can change their ways when the incentive is there.
"We sold all of our clothes pins the first day," said Doug White, general manager at Don Abel Building Supplies. "I don't think kids even knew what they were for, but they're learning now."
It is a phenomenon that was seen before in Brazil, when a drought starved the power grid of hydro-electric power in 2001. On that occasion, consumers were ordered to cut their use of power by 20 per cent or face fines.
It worked. "In two months, the whole country cut their demand by 20 per cent, and they never really returned to the same level of consumption after that," said Alan Meier, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.
http://tinyurl.com/56vwcz
Juneau heeds the call for sacrifice
Adam Stein | May 20, 2008
Avalanche and power cut in Alaska lead to remarkable experiment in energy efficiency.
The residents of Juneau, Alaska have achieved an astounding 38% drop in electricity usage in a matter of weeks through simple conservation measures:
http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/juneau-responds-to-the-call-for-sacrifice
Thirdly: should the Government offices (those not directly concerned with public safety) be the first to lose power during brownouts?
I keep considering a little woodburning stove. In Britain (Essex), where not a great many people have them, wood should be hardly a problem, especially if you also invest in a chainsaw (my brother had one and ran it perpetually on pallets) and I reckon you could get a fair amount of heating just out of junk mail and packaging.
How about clubbing together for one of these?????
http://www.physorg.com/news145561984.html
Neal Asher
Watch the nails in the pallets with the chainsaw!
The Bishop really needs to look into smart meters.
These devices - which Cameron is committed to enforcing on every UK household within the decade - are sold as a solution the the government-fabricated 'energy crisis'. In fact, they are powerful tools for the State and its agencies (including the police) to use to spy on UK citizens within their homes. Smart meters report 'live' highly detailed data about a household's energy and appliance uses - and the smart meter also gives the State the power to enforce 'behaviour changes' - in compliance with whatever is deemed to be a political 'common purpose' - by threatening and enacting targeted energy rationing within a household whose energy use is deemed to be inappropriate.
Reading between the lines of the corporate sales blurb from smart meter manufacturers (such as IBM), this level of State power - to spy-on, persecute and ultimately close-down households - is promoted as a positive. If anyone wonders why the government clings so firmly to the ridiculously corrupt 'science' of global warming, smart meters may well be the answer... it provides the State with an excuse to cross the last threshold of privacy and install what is (in effect) a 'blind' CCTV system in every UK household.
www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/global/files/uk__en_uk__energy__pov_smartmeter.pdf
There is a growing consensus across political parties and within the industry that reforms to the Great Britain (GB) electricity market are required in order to deliver the investment needed to replace an aging generation fleet and achieve ambitious targets for reducing the UK‟s carbon dioxide emissions, while maintaining secure and affordable supplies for consumers.
From: Electricity Market Reform Analysis of policy options
http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/emr/1043-emr-analysis-policy-options.pdf
To demonstrate this, we modelled a „business as usual‟ evolution of the GB generation market under current policies, with a carbon price rising to £70/t by 2030. This Baseline scenario, based on the Central assumptions of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), resulted in a carbon intensity of around 200 g/kWh in 2030, compared to 452 g/kWh in 20091. Despite a 35% generation market share for renewables, assumed to be achievable under existing policies2, this is still double the 100 g/kWh previously recommended by the Committee on Climate Change3 (CCC). Although nuclear stations and plant fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) should be competitive with unabated fossil technologies without subsidy under Baseline assumptions, the key issue is investors‟ lack of confidence that future carbon prices will rise to the levels assumed by Government, resulting in a significant lag in development of low-carbon generation other than renewables.
Analysis of the Baseline scenario also highlighted potential future risks to security of supply towards the end of this decade and into the next. De-rated capacity margins, while expected to be high in the near term, could fall below 10% towards the end of the decade, lower than they have been over the last ten years. There is also the added uncertainty surrounding how the system will operate with much more renewable plant in the mix. The risks stem from a combination of closures of existing plant (25 GW by 2020 or around 30% of existing capacity), uncertain returns for investors in thermal plant, and the intermittent nature of wind plant and other types of renewables.
The whole document is worth a read as the entire future of the GB market is based upon carbon trading.
The Baseline modelling demonstrated possible future risks to security of supply. The analysis suggests that policies that promote further decarbonisation could exacerbate the risks, since although they should stimulate new low-carbon investment, it is likely that this will undercut fossil generators, leading to less investment in these technologies and/or earlier plant closures. The speed of deployment of low-carbon generation then becomes critical. Delays would exacerbate any security of supply risk.
The security of supply risk should be reduced where it is possible to stimulate an expansion of demand side response, enabled by smart meters, other demand side technologies and new pricing propositions encouraging customers to shift demand.
We have analysed two policies designed to mitigate the risk to security of supply further – a universal capacity payment mechanism (Capacity Payments for All) and a Targeted Capacity Tender. Either could increase capacity margins and reduce risks to security of supply but could lead to very different outcomes in terms of capacity mix and costs to consumers.
Nuclear capacity, retirements and availability
Dungeness B
1,110 MW
2018
70%
Hartlepool
1,210 MW
2019
70%
Heysham 1
1,150 MW
2019
70%
Heysham 2
1,250 MW
2028
70%
Hinkley Point
820 MW
2016
70%
Torness
1,250 MW
2028
70%
Hunterston
820 MW
2016
70%
Sizewell B
1,190 MW
2045
87%
Oldbury
434 MW
2010
75%
Wylfa
980 MW
2010
75%
Juneau, Alaska, Cuts Electricity Use Drastically During Crisis
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=11802
Juneau Experience
http://tinyurl.com/2fzco9v
The whole document is worth a read as the entire future of the GB market is based upon carbon trading.
This isn't good. The Chicago Carbon exchanged just closed. It seems like the market ain't ready for this bullsh*t yet. And if the market ain't going to bear it, then I guess tax dollars will.
Anybody tried Whispergen gas fired Stirling engine CHE unit? www.whispergen.com/ a sector of Northern Gas that's been up and running several years now.
There is also the compact solid fuel modern steam solution. The steam generated in an efficient boiler can heat your house, saw your firewood, and generate your electricity for the same outlay.
Australians can try - http://www.pritchardpower.com.au/default.aspx.
In Florida USA you have Cyclone Power, another modern steam solution: http://www.cyclonepower.com/
Both the steam solutions are still under development but well advanced.
The advantage that both Stirling hot air and Steam power have over internal combustion is quiet operation, which anyone that has ever slept over a diesel generator is bound to appreciate.
"mobile tower repeaters lose power"
Every cloud has a silver lining.. :-)
I meant to add, this is a fascinating subject - almost worth a blog of its own...
A couple of points about inverters and running them from cars.
1) Most cheap inverters produce "modified" sine wave AC. This is really square wave with the corners chopped off. It's fine for powering resistive loads such as conventional bulbs and heating, although the latter would be pretty stupid given the high power demands. The problems come with inductive, and particularly capacitive loads. Motors are usually OK, but they won't produce as much power as they would with a sine wave supply. Conventional Fluorescent fittings (with a wound ballast) are also OK, but tend to be noisy. But any capacitive load - and that means virtually any power supply in modern domestic equipment, and CFL's - will tend to run hot, and can actually destroy the inverter. Even worse (as I found out the hard way) very small devices such as central heating programmers use a very crude circuit which will seriously overheat in minutes. Mine "cooked" the printed circuit board. So although it's perfectly feasible to run the circulating pump, you will very likely wreck the control system(s). I ended up buying a small "pure sinewave" inverter especially for this purpose.
2) The DC current draw can be surprising, and your car battery won't last long without the engine running. Most inverters will shut down on low voltage, but you don't want to risk being stranded with a non-running car.... My rather ancient runabout is fitted with a home brewed dual output alternator, second battery, and a 1Kw inverter. I use this for a variety of jobs when working off the beaten track. I could easily keep the house lit with this, but the aforementioned dedicated unit runs the (gas fired) central heating for several hours on a 40Ah SLA battery. We also have a small petrol genny which will run the basics, but is not the sort of thing to run late into the evening!
I forgot to add that conventional fluorescent fittings normally have a power factor correction capacitor fitted. This is best removed if you're going to run them from an inverter - see the point about capacitive loads above.
Lord Beaverbrook,
This is frightening. They are thinking about energy provision but only in terms closely circumscribed by a complete conviction in AGW.
The obvious policy option they are not considering is forgetting, or seriously diluting, the ambitious (foolhardy) targets for reducing the UK's carbon dioxide emissions. In which case they wouldn't have to square the circle of reducing emissions while maintaining secure and affordable supplies.
They seriously believe The City will make a mint out of carbon trading and haul us out of the mess of debt we've been saddled with by dealings in a fraudulent carbon indulges market. Markets consist of buyers and sellers of things people want, not things people are forced to put up with.
It's a question of how much the public will put up with until grown ups are elected to clear up the mess.
@cosmic - it's "grown ups" who've got us into this mess - very well educated grown ups...
The reason for so called smart meters may be answered in the article under this heading on No Tricks Zone, the blog of Pierre Gosselin. Note it was passed because of an EUSSR directive, so what's the betting our lame govt will pass something similar in the not too distant future. Then where will we all be??
Germany Passes Energy Tyranny Act – Will Force Energy Rationing
Re Neal Asher
Beware supply and demand. A few years ago some of my friends and neighbours did this. More people had the same idea so the supply of free/cheap wood dried up. Same thing happened when a mate converted his diesel to run on chip fat, started off cheap, ended up expensive as demand went up. Found wood from local trees might help top it up but all the ones around me have preservation orders on them so lots of paperwork and expense to turn their dead bits into firewood.
Biggest challenge though is dealing with prolonged outages, like what may happen when we lose 30% of our current generating capacity and have no viable replacement. That may need more than a few hours or days of self-sufficiency and for petrol or diesel gennies mean having to store more fuel Which means more paperwork, POL storage, bund building, inspections etc etc. Or having enough land to grow fuel and food to be self-suffficient.
Prolonged outages would be very disruptive though. 9/11 demonstrated some of the risks. There was a substation under the towers serviing the area which got cut. Buildings went to backup power, but had finite fuel stores. Demand and disruption meant diesel tankers couldn't get to customers, so power went out. Similar thing happened with the New Orleans floods, and lack of power may also mean petrol stations can't serve fuel if their pumps aren't working. Telemetry controlling utilities may also have short backup power reserves, and to make life even more amusing, may have tried moving to Internet connectivity, so when the 'net starts to fail there'll be a neat cascading failure. In the good'ol days of safety first, CNI was probably more reliable, now it's largely privatised and cost first, it's a different story.
Like others posting here we live in a relatively remote area, the foothills area SW of Calgary, Alberta, our power supply is via a single overhead conductor on wooden poles. Outages are not uncommon, usually for brief periods of an hour or so however, last spring due to a freezing rain storm, we had a 4 day period with no power which coincided with sub-zero temperatures.
We had completed a total rebuild and renovation on our house when purchased 3 years ago and being on well water and a septic system we took the opportunity to install a back up power system. We have a Kohler 70KVA, 240/110 volt natural gas fueled generator with an automatic transfer switch to feed essential systems like water handling, refrigeration, furnaces, etc. The generator can handle all our normal essential loads with ease.
Not sure if they are available in the UK but Kohler, (normally thought of as suppliers of plumbimg fixtures), have a good line of generators, prices can vary significantly depending in large part of the type of engine but for the kind of intermittent light duty cycle we envisaged their air cooled units seemed ideal and it has worked perfectly since install, including starting and running at minus 35C temperatures. I would expect an engine TBO of 3000 hours, so far including testing we have 35 hours on the unit over 3 years.
If my memory is correct our cost was about $7,000Cdn for the generator, $1,500 for the transfer switch, the install cost is "hidden"within my overall electrical labour since we totally rewired the house including a higher capacity pole transformer and main feed cable. I would guesstimate that the install labour and materials cost would be about $8,000Cdn on a stand alone basis.
Based on last springs experience two of our neighbours have bitten the bullet and installed similar systems, hotel accomodation, burst water pipe damage, spoiled food, incovenience factors, etc can add up quickly. Leaving ones house untended at times like this can be stressfull to say the least and hidden within the small print of some insurance companies in Canada is a requirement that an un-inhabited property must be checked physically every 3 days or so or the coverage will be void.
If China does not play ball (the most likely scenario) then the the 50% reduction in carbon emissions targetted by the OECD by 2050 will result in lowering the global temperature by 0.2 deg C (assuming AGW). Worth every cent of the trillions of tax payer dollars!