EU to ban high-energy hair dryers, first they came for you hoover then for your hair dryer then for
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surely the only possile way to make a kettle more efficient is to improve the insulation which would still be a negligible increase it takes a fixed amount of energy to heat a fixed amount of water to a set temperature there's nothing you can do to change that
Use is a problem all the while people are adding more water than they need, so it takes longer to boil than necessary. Not sure what can be done about that - aside from reduce max capacity.
Soldato
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A classmate of mine constantly overfilled the kettle. Irritating, but in our case baffling, and slightly alarming. At the time were studying marine engineering, thus steam plant, boilers and consequently, thermodynamics were a big thing.
It seemed that whilst he could mathematically grasp the concept of Q=mc^t, there was a worrying disconnect between theory and reality for him, which seeing as he's still unemployed nearly a year after the course ended, is just as well really.
It seemed that whilst he could mathematically grasp the concept of Q=mc^t, there was a worrying disconnect between theory and reality for him, which seeing as he's still unemployed nearly a year after the course ended, is just as well really.
Soldato
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the tefal quickcup did a pretty good job of both reducing boiling times and water wasteage.
The problem with this is that tuning equipment to the highest possible efficiencies can often actually make it less reliable. Just look at modern diesel cars for an example, there are so many bits and bobs bolted on to try and maintain the same level of power for lower energy use, that their lifespan is severely shortened.
Lead-free solder is another example. Take the lead out of solder to reduce the quantity of lead polluting the environment, and in the process, make consumer electronics more likely to break, resulting in more of them being disposed of, and therefore increasing the level of pollution.
So while you may (marginally) reduce the amount of power used, you'll decrease the lifespan and thus actually increase wastage.
It's a good way of encouraging the consumption of fossil fuels however - everyone will start using petrol lawn mowers
Reducing max capacity is great if you're only making a single cup. If you're making a round of drinks, you're going to be filling and boiling the kettle 3-4 times, which is going to use more energy than filling and boiling a 3-4 cup kettle once.
It's easy to reduce "boiling" times when you're not actually boiling the water
(I'm pretty sure none of those "instant" hot water systems actually provide boiling water, which makes them great for coffee, but pretty much useless if you want to make a decent cup of tea...)
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Soldato
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It's easy to reduce "boiling" times when you're not actually boiling the water
(I'm pretty sure none of those "instant" hot water systems actually provide boiling water, which makes them great for coffee, but pretty much useless if you want to make a decent cup of tea...)
you do have a point, but the principle of operation at least is pretty sound.
I've had one for some time and, as a primarily tea drinker, I can safely say that they do.
This is ridiculous, regardless of how many watts a kettle is, you need the same amount of energy to boil water so a lower powered kettle will have to be on longer and still use the same amount of electricity. These people have no understanding of physics.
These measures do not reduce net energy consumption as everything now needs to be switched on for longer to work. The devices that they are targeting are used infrequently for a few minutes so they actually use very little energy relative to other devices.
Yet another case of the EU dictating stupid rules, no wonder everyone seems to want to leave the EU.
These measures do not reduce net energy consumption as everything now needs to be switched on for longer to work. The devices that they are targeting are used infrequently for a few minutes so they actually use very little energy relative to other devices.
Yet another case of the EU dictating stupid rules, no wonder everyone seems to want to leave the EU.
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if you get really picky taking longer to boil would surely mean more energy lost through the case of the kettle, meaning more energy used.
Exactly, you want it boiled as fast as possible to reduce heat transfer from the water to the environment.
Soldato
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They're not targeting kettles though. The amount of suction a vacuum cleaner can produce depends on two things....
1) The power of the device
2) The way the suction is formed
You can get a powerful (wattage-wise) vacuum cleaner than has less suction than a less-powerful model simply due to the way it is constructed. This EU law is an attempt to stop manufacturers being lazy by just upping the wattage to get more power than using better parts and systems.
That's not to say I agree with the new regs though. Making efficient, low powered machines costs money which is why, for example, a Dyson is more expensive than a Bush so instead of making efficient, well designed vacuum cleaners for all, they will create a market where middle to upper class earners can afford decent machines and the poorer folk will just have to make do with the rest.
The same is true of car taxation. Only the well-off can afford a brand new 150 miles to the gallon hybrid, so poorer people now pay well over the odds or just make do without a car.
These devices end up using the same amount of energy to complete a task no matter what wattage they are, completely different to a hoover.
Regarding hoovers though, they are used once a week for a short while, tiny amount of energy use.
But they can change the amount of water a kettle needs to boil...
Where most kettles have to boil all the water that you have in the kettle for just for a single cup..
Example = Most people will boil over 1 litre of water when they only need around 225ml for there cup of tea/coofee
Where my kettle will only boil the amount of water needed for one cup.....
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The thing is though with less powerful vacuum's we'd just use them for longer negating any impact in power saving.
Not really as for years the vacuum cleaner manufacturers have been selling them by the wattage, not how well they work, knowing that customers will think "ooh that 2500 watt vacuum cleaner has to be better than that 1200 watt one".
When in reality what you're getting for the extra 1300 watts is often a lot more noise and heat with little or no improvement in suction.
You can buy low end industrial/shop vacs that demonstrate this sort of thing for not much more than a lot of the consumer vacs.
and you have no understanding of the energy grid
after eastenders finishes 1.50-1.75million kettles of energy is needed 3 gigawatts of which 600mw came from france at the time of this documentary
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