'Enough to power so many homes'

[manhill]

What exactly does this mean? Enough to keep the lights and central heating pumps running or to electrically heat x hundred homes?

 

[sjt01]

What exactly does this mean? Enough to keep the lights and central heating pumps running or to electrically heat x hundred homes?

The figure used to be somewhere around 600 watts for a home, not sure what it is now. Your total kWh for the month divided by hours in the month.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

What exactly does this mean? Enough to keep the lights and central heating pumps running or to electrically heat x hundred homes?

Yes I hate that. Why don't they just quote the output like an engineer would?

 

[Mur Huwcun]

Yes I hate that. Why don't they just quote the output like an engineer would?

Exactly but unfortunately 95% of the population haven’t got the foggiest what an amp, volt or Kwh is. It’s shocking how many haven’t got a clue how much a meter or a foot is by looking, judging or guessing!! Not every one is same as us agri folk and can judge a gap by comparing it to 10 or twelve foot gates or it’s very near the width of my 3m mower ....

 

[PSQ]

It's just one of the standard units of lazy journalism:
'X times the height of Big Ben'
'the size of X football pitches'
'the size of Wales'.

 

[R J]

A bit like when something is compared to the weight of x amount of blue whales
Or double decker busses ..
What is wrong with metric tons !

 

[Mur Huwcun]

A bit like when something is compared to the weight of x amount of blue whales
Or double decker busses ..
What is wrong with metric tons !

Yes, how much does a double decker bus weight? I would guess you would struggle to move it on the Ifor Williams unless early on a Sunday morning?

come to think of it, most of the population drive and park their SUVs as they’re double decker tri axle buse!!

 

[Two Tone]

What exactly does this mean? Enough to keep the lights and central heating pumps running or to electrically heat x hundred homes?

What was it that prompted this question?
Was it by any chance having watched the Royal Institution Christmas lectures on BBC 4?

I watched all 3 and was much relieved to have watched the 3rd last night, without them having had a go at us farmers!
It explained that farmers need to apply fertiliser to crops, that trees may be good at capturing CO2, but nothing like as good as soil, especially Peat and didn’t have a go at ruminants producing Methane.
The conclusion was that Nature can help solve a lot of the problems.

It also mentioned about AD plants recycling food waste.
A 25 tonne lorry load of waste, produces a enough electricity to supply an average house for 2 years (being 730 houses for a day). It also produces enough digestate fertiliser to grow 5000 loaves of bread.

 

[manhill]

What was it that prompted this question?
Was it by any chance having watched the Royal Institution Christmas lectures on BBC 4?

I watched all 3 and was much relieved to have watched the 3rd last night, without them having had a go at us farmers!
It explained that farmers need to apply fertiliser to crops, that trees may be good at capturing CO2, but nothing like as good as soil, especially Peat and didn’t have a go at ruminants producing Methane.
The conclusion was that Nature can help solve a lot of the problems.

It also mentioned about AD plants recycling food waste.
A 25 tonne lorry load of waste, produces a enough electricity to supply an average house for 2 years (being 730 houses for a day). It also produces enough digestate fertiliser to grow 5000 loaves of bread.

No, missed the RI unfortunatel. Again, 730 houses for a day is meaningless to me. Maybe it we were talking about an electrically heated house it would have some meaning but a house with led lamps and led tv are hardly much of a load.

 

[Highland Mule]

No, missed the RI unfortunatel. Again, 730 houses for a day is meaningless to me. Maybe it we were talking about an electrically heated house it would have some meaning but a house with led lamps and led tv are hardly much of a load.

That’s why they included the word “average”.

 

[Wisconsonian]

Just be thankful the journalists are lazy. I hear it all the time, they add a time unit or worse. This project will provide enough electricity for one thousand houses FOR A YEAR. And then it's done? supplies in one day enough for those houses for a year?

Just as funny, American journalist with an Australian guest, "thanks for joining us at such an odd hour, you're 16 hours ahead of our time". If Australian time was only a few more hours ahead then the poor guest would have to stay up for what, 32 hours in order to talk to Americans?

 

[GeorgeK]

Seems like "Can power X number of houses based on average power use" massively overstates the potential of the power source. A house might need 600w on average per hour over the year, but with peak demands at certain times of day and year the power supply would have to be capable of far more than than the average power requirement to provide an adequate supply in the real world.
Yet more lies, damn lies and statistics, if this is how the 'experts' are working it out

 

[Mur Huwcun]

Seems like "Can power X number of houses based on average power use" massively overstates the potential of the power source. A house might need 600w on average per hour over the year, but with peak demands at certain times of day and year the power supply would have to be capable of far more than than the average power requirement to provide an adequate supply in the real world.
Yet more lies, damn lies and statistics, if this is how the 'experts' are working it out

Well we’ve had a few days over Christmas now with being at home all day and the cold weather where we’ve been using around 25kw a day!!! Christmas day was 32 according to smart meter.

 

[e3120]

*Pedant warning*

Sadly this thread is not without fault. There's more than 1 mixup of power and energy. It's a bit like saying you're an hour from the nearest town but omitting that you're reliant on shoe leather.

Don't get me started on the rate of increase of the virus and the R value.

 

[renewablejohn]

Just be thankful the journalists are lazy. I hear it all the time, they add a time unit or worse. This project will provide enough electricity for one thousand houses FOR A YEAR. And then it's done? supplies in one day enough for those houses for a year?

Just as funny, American journalist with an Australian guest, "thanks for joining us at such an odd hour, you're 16 hours ahead of our time". If Australian time was only a few more hours ahead then the poor guest would have to stay up for what, 32 hours in order to talk to Americans?

Was it not Samoa that decided that they where fed up being last to the New Years party so they lost a day and are now one of the first to celebrate New Year.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

I learned a bit more while watching a programme about the Clyde. There is a hydro station on part of the river which the presenter claimed would supply 17,000 homes. Luckily, when being shown round it, the engineer said that it was 11Mw. Now if I've got my noughts and decimal point right that amounts to about 650 watts which is what GeorgeK quoted.
As the owner of a micro hydro set I would say that you actually need 10kw per property. I have to share out my 12kw between 3 so it can only cover part of the demand.

 

[renewablejohn]

I learned a bit more while watching a programme about the Clyde. There is a hydro station on part of the river which the presenter claimed would supply 17,000 homes. Luckily, when being shown round it, the engineer said that it was 11Mw. Now if I've got my noughts and decimal point right that amounts to about 650 watts which is what GeorgeK quoted.
As the owner of a micro hydro set I would say that you actually need 10kw per property. I have to share out my 12kw between 3 so it can only cover part of the demand.

10kw for peak demand I would not disagree with but I think there averaging the need on a 24 hour basis and assuming storage of that electric without any losses to give 650 watts. Its not to far away from the figure I use for continuous generation per household of 750 watts.

 

[Highland Mule]

10kw for peak demand I would not disagree with but I think there averaging the need on a 24 hour basis and assuming storage of that electric without any losses to give 650 watts. Its not to far away from the figure I use for continuous generation per household of 750 watts.

Also, they don’t include electric heating in the figures, which will bring the average down.

 

[Mur Huwcun]

10kw for peak demand I would not disagree with but I think there averaging the need on a 24 hour basis and assuming storage of that electric without any losses to give 650 watts. Its not to far away from the figure I use for continuous generation per household of 750 watts.

We peaked on Saturday using 33kw which was a bit of a shock!! Today up to now (5pm) is only 16. The only high draining appliance we have is a set of induction hobs. GSHP is 2.2kwh so a 2.5kw hydro would do me fine!!!!!

 

[Highland Mule]

We peaked on Saturday using 33kw

How? I’m guessing you’d need a short circuit on a main line to be pulling what is ~120 amps, assuming you’ve a house and not a factory.