Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Energy Consumption
In the West we never consider how much energy a product uses until you don’t have enough of it.
When we tried to run a compressor from a generator and couldn’t start it, the size of the motor became obvious.
I spent a couple of years living in a caravan (14’ 6” touring van) whilst working away from home. Now the choice of a tourist site in Cirencester or a little farm in Minety was an obvious one to me but electric hook-up wasn’t available. It wasn’t a problem as the heating, water, oven and hob were all gas but lighting and TV all consumed electricity. I fitted a 12V inverter to run my satellite receiver and had a small B&W TV. I had a company car so hooking up a good battery was a quick job each night but by the morning it was pretty low. Power consumption suddenly became a real issue, leave the light on OR have a shower in the morning. I don’t know if LCD TV’s are any better, I suspect not.
It seems like the government are finally starting to realise that our old nuclear power stations really need to be shut down but they don’t have the guts to make a decision on the future.
They’ve just about banned traditional light bulbs, to save energy but my new super efficient house appears to be full of 12V 50W spotlights, 300W in the kitchen alone! Why are they still available and promoted? Maybe they think 12V electricity is more efficient? They produce poor lighting and shadows too so one 4’ fluorescent tube would win on all counts, except style.
I remember when Sky TV first launched their Digibox, the engineering magazines were all moaning about having to leave them in standby. Now of course Sky are a ‘carbon neutral’ company (not including the Digibox)!!! and they run adverts telling customers to switch the box into standby. Why can’t they design a box with an off switch like most digital receivers? Sadly, for them, I’m no longer a customer.
I bought a nice AAA rated washing machine but it uses so little water the silicone door seal keeps going mouldy and a replacement is expensive and time consuming.
We burn carbon neutral wood at home instead of sulphur laden coal but now the roof is covered in moss and has to be scrapped off every couple of years.
Anyway when you design a product you really ought to consider how much power it will require and take steps to minimise it, you’ll be thanked in the end.
I do have one proviso though; consider the whole system lifecycle costs and KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. I guess I’m a bit of a Luddite but don’t add £500 of complex equipment to save £100. Hybrid cars are probably a good idea but step one ought to be to reduce the basic complexity and mass, my 13 year old Peugeot 106 does 60 mpg (UK) diesel and doesn’t have an electronic controller at all. In fact it ran for 3 weeks with a failed alternator one summer. If a Toyota hybrid system was fitted in a 106 without all the crappy TV screens, electric windows, seats and other rubbish then it could be a useful design but bogged down in customer comfort features it won’t suit me so I’ll sit the scrappage scheme out if you don’t mind.
I think I might just expand this section and let you have my thoughts on solar water heating next time, it’s a bit of a diversion but it should be said…..