| Forum Home | ||||
| Press F1 | ||||
| Thread ID: 32826 | 2003-04-29 05:53:00 | OT: Saving Power | csinclair83 (200) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 139892 | 2003-04-30 02:44:00 | Max Bradford says the market works. He was prepared to bet that the new improved system his crooked business mates wanted would lead to cheaper power. He made a major bet with our money. We lost. We have a good source of fuel for thermal stations: useless politicians, and the majority of overpaid managers, bankers, accountants, public relationers, "consultants" and "economists". The fat would burn well, but the pollution might be bad. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 139893 | 2003-04-30 03:01:00 | > We have a good source of fuel for thermal stations: useless politicians, and the majority of overpaid managers, bankers, accountants, public relationers, "consultants" and "economists". The fat would burn well, but the pollution might be bad I thought harnessing the hot air from the beehive would have done the trick without actually burning anyone! :D .Clueless |
Clueless (181) | ||
| 139894 | 2003-04-30 04:38:00 | Why should the power suppliers build new generation? They are doing alright now because demand has pushed the price through the roof and they're making a fortune with no extra expenditure. The free market is a wonderful idea and has nothing to do with customer care when the customers can't go anywhere else! andy |
andy (473) | ||
| 139895 | 2003-04-30 07:17:00 | I've just started paying attention to the power that get's wasted at school (I'm at a College in Auckland). There are lights left on in the corridors when there needn't be, teachers are leaving the lights on over interval and lunch (which is only a measly 30 minutes for each), and the monitors in the IT Block are those monitors which are always on standby - you can't effictively turn them off. I'm sure that if these were all successfully maintained then our school would atleast be doing something for the cause... I suppose the worst thing at the end of the day is the fact that the majority of the lights at school have the potential to be switched on and off by students - the switches are just in the halls and easily accessible... Only last week I saw a fire hose that had a screw put through it - don't think it's been fixed yet either. CyberChuck |
cyberchuck (173) | ||
| 139896 | 2003-05-01 12:40:00 | That is true Clueless . Friends of mine were quoted $22,000 to get power to their house and they thought what a waste and bought two solar panels and a windmill plus a generator for emergency. Having looked after their place several times I have been very impressed and they must be feeling very smug at the moment. | mikebartnz (21) | ||
| 139897 | 2003-05-01 20:23:00 | I have a friend on the wild wet coast who was quoted a similar price to get power from the grid to his land. He could see the 11,000v lines from his site, but there were going to be a couple of extra poles needed, and a transformer for him. Living near an closed ex-hydro power staion he decided the best thing to do was to buy several hundred metres of 40mm alcathene pipe to carry water from the old dam, and squirt the water at a small turbine that he built himself. The generator itself is car alternator, but when i last saw him was about to become a modified washing machine motor. The alternater produces a constant 200 watts or so. This charges 2 12 volt car batterys. These of course dont have to be new as they are only buffers, rather than something that has to hold a charge for a month like a vehicle battery is expected to do. A small inverter ($300?) provides power at 230v when needed for sundry toys, and of course his dwelling uses 12v flouresent lites and 12v appliances were ever possible. A small petrol gererator is still used sometimes for welding and power tools. Gas and wood are used for cooking heating etc. There is a power regulation device that wastes excess generation by heating his outhouse. The surplus is expected to increase with the washine machine motor as the new generator, and he was considering using the excess to heat hot water in summer. He will also be able to run a machine waching machine powering the modified motor directly from his generator, and allowing the house to run from the batterys while he does his waching. At the moment he has to use the 230v generator for the washing machine. Overall power costs for my freind are much lower than you and i will be paying, yet he has all the things we expect. His neighbour who is down hill from him is about to build, and was quoted an unaffordible price to get power from the grid to his site. There is 5 points offered to the first person to guess what my freind will be doing with the water collected in a 40 gallon drum that has been through his turbine. (Clue: it involves 40mm alcathene pipe, and another turbine) .Clueless |
Clueless (181) | ||
| 139898 | 2003-05-02 02:41:00 | I know a few people that have the turbine set up out in the Marlborough Sounds. Always used to be rather annoying turning up at school and bitching about how you missed The Simpsons as there was a power cut. They laugh as they had power through the whole thing 8). Though I think that getting the power hooked up out at our place was one of the best things they ever did though. If you go about it the right way it doesn't cost too much. Well it didn't back then anyway. |
-=JM=- (16) | ||
| 139899 | 2003-05-02 02:53:00 | Them was the days, JM. It was government policy to get power to everyone in the country. This meant heavy subsidies for the remote places. It was justified as leading to development of the country. Then the "new economy" greed market arrived. There's nothing new about greed. That's why governments had to regulate the crooks. We are repeating the process of previous centuries. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 139900 | 2003-05-02 02:56:00 | I used to work at the Manurewa High School in Auckland, and everyday we used to turn off all the PCs around the school by way of a big main switch. Don't know how much power that saved, though, as the servers chewed through electricity. | wintertide (1306) | ||
| 139901 | 2003-05-02 02:57:00 | geneisis is putting power prices up for taranaki down to manawatu...residental 7% increase as of 8 june and commercial 11% as of 1st july | csinclair83 (200) | ||
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | |||||