National Grid could activate emergency winter plan Today
National Grid’s system operator said yesterday it was considering the first ever live run of its Demand Flexibility Service – which is designed to avoid blackouts by rewarding people for cutting demand down at peak times – on Tuesday evening, when England are due to play Wales in the soccer World Cup.
Cold weather, low wind speeds and ongoing problems with France’s nuclear power stations may cause an energy shortfall in the UK.
As of a few minutes ago, Gridwatch was showing the UK’s wind turbines were only producing 0.66GW, which equates to 1.7 percent of our current demand of 38GW.
National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Service offers discounts if people reduce their electricity usage at peak times, but how many people will be willing, or able, to reduce their usage in cold months?
Ministers have ‘urged’ households to turn their boilers down to 60C, leave radiators off in empty rooms and draughtproof windows and doors under a £1billion energy efficiency drive.
People do not stay in one room all day, so are we supposed to keep turning radiators on an off when we move from one room to another?
Business Secretary Grant Shapps is planning an £18million public information campaign to offer advice and technical tips to help households cut their energy use.
It is interesting to note the government can allocate £18 million to promote living in cold houses, but cannot spend that money reducing our energy bills.
That would be far more useful, but is apparently not an option.
They are obviously quite happy for us to pay extortionate energy bills and live in houses ten degrees colder than normal.
Shapps said:
The Government put immediate help in place to support households in the wake of global energy price rises caused by Putin’s illegal march on Ukraine.
Today, we launch the first of many measures to ensure the British public are never put in this position again as we work towards an energy- independent future.
A new Eco scheme will enable thousands more to insulate their homes, protecting the pounds in their pockets, and create jobs across the country.
And in the short term, our new public information campaign will also give people the tools they need to reduce their energy use while keeping warm this winter.’
Inevitably, Labour’s Ed Miliband said:
‘This reheated announcement with no new resources is far too little too late and will help only a tiny fraction of the millions of people facing a cost of living emergency this winter.’
He added:
‘Labour’s Warm Homes Plan would insulate up to two million homes a year, saving pensioners and families up to £1,000 off their energy bills.’
Turning down your heating will lead to an increase in hospital admissions for respiratory illnesses, particularly the elderly, which will then inevitably be blamed on Covid, which will in turn lead to more calls for masking, antisocial distancing and lockdowns.
They want the UK to run purely on electricity, then tell us to use less of it.
All part of the grand plan to erode our rights and freedoms.
Header image: The Heating Company
About the author: Andy Rowlands is a university graduate in space science and British Principia Scientific International researcher, writer and editor who co-edited the new climate science book, ‘The Sky Dragon Slayers: Victory Lap‘
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Notice the operative word, ‘rewarding’? Don’t bother trying to educate, just dangle a carrot.
“Ministers have ‘urged’ households to turn their boilers down to 60C, leave radiators off in empty rooms and draughtproof windows and doors under a £1billion energy efficiency drive.”
They forgot cool baths… Rubbish, generic advice from those out of touch with reality. ‘Urged’ perhaps means you should do it before it’s legislated?
So you possibly heat one room, when everything outside of that room is a vampire continuously sapping that heat and wasting it? Perhaps you suffer from arthritis? Any sufferer will tell you the effects of low temperature on such ailments.
You can bet the houses of parliament won’t be so crippled.
Draftproofing doors windows will be back to bite you if you’re not carefull as the condensation of various sources, including yourself makes your cooler room walls paint themselves black with mould.
If anybody is interested in what I consider usefull advice to save a few quid:
In every case of a home with a boiler that I’ve seen, even after annual checks are complete, the radiator water temperature at the boiler was allways maxed out, same as the tap water temperature, even after annual safety checks.
As far as warmth is concerned, this brings about a massive over-shoot in available temperature since the circulation is far higher temp than the thermostat setting. This leads to a temperature that is too high, then too cool while the boiler shuts off, and runs on on a raging sine-wave that leads, particularly in a drafty home to a see-saw effect where the home is felt alternately too hot, then too cool.
Point is, much gas is used to heat the system water far more than is comfortable, and if the thermostat is sited badly, thus in a lagging detection area, the problem is worse and control, vague..
Set the thermostat to the temperature you are comfortable with, then set the water temp at the boiler itself to 2 degrees higher than that to start with. This ensures the loop will always be under control. This figure is not a constant since people are different in needs. Don’t forget that the two settings may no be using degrees C/F at the same time, so convert appropriately. If there is anything to be classed as a downside, it’s that the initial heatup speed of the home from cold will be necessarily slower.
Do you fill the sink basin with hot water, only to cool it again with cold because it’s too hot to use? Regarding the tap temp, just set the tap to what feels good, then add a degree or two. The simple act of hot water contacting the basin alone will cool it, so experiment again.
This ‘messing about’ may seem folly to some who will scoff at it, but you’ll feel the benefit in your pocket.
There’s also the lesser temperature of hot surfaces, scalding water, for ‘little ‘uns’ to hurt themselves on as well.
In this household, we’ve used this method for over 15 years, and it works. Try it, there’s nothing to lose for most of us that NEED to make resources last even beyond generic nonsense .
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