If you have been vaguely thinking of upgrading to high definition TV but waiting until your old telly needed replacing, you may have to get your finger out, as the bansturbators are at it again, with another bit of greenwash.
Giant plasma TVs face ban in battle to green Britain
Another story caught my eye was about fridges shutting themselves down at the behest of the Electricity Board to save energy. This is complete and utter cockwaffle, it isn’t anything to do with saving energy at all, it is a mechanism for the national grid to be able to shed load at the times of peak demand. If you turn off your fridge for an hour, it will simply use that energy running continuously until the chiller compartment reaches working temperature again.
Fridges (and night storage heaters) are the only domestic appliances that can be deprived of power for short periods without anyone noticing or it making much difference.
It isn’t widely understood that electricity supply has to meed demand or otherwise the voltage dips and the frequency drops. This is because all those huge power stations with their generators spinning at 3000 RPM are feeling the load and slowing down. (Think back to when you were a kid and how much more effort was needed to work the dynamo for the lights on your bike, assuming you didn’t have batteries, or even acetylene).
Now there is a failsafe mechanism to protect the grid called the frequency service. If the mains frequency dips below a certain level, certain large industrial companies instantly shed large loads that are not critical to their business, i.e. a cold store can do without refridgeration and a smelting works can cope without power for twenty minutes. These customers are paid for the privilege of course, but as we don’t actually make very much in Britain any more, I imagine that is pretty much max-ed out. (Once demand exceeds supply then once the two welsh storage facilities are empty then it is rolling blackouts).
By the way, if a fridge is not cooling due to load shedding, I’m sure the light inside will still come on. There might be a little green LED to show it isn’t running, although a brown LED might be more appropriate.
