Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

NotAGolf said:
How much energy could you generate if you hooked up a spin bike/turbo trainer to a battery?
Maybe I could power my lights in the evening whilst getting exercise. Or maybe I could invite Chris Hoy/Jason Kenny round and power my TV for the week :D
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A normal person could produce around 150W consistently on a bike - probably closer to 100W once you've factored in the inefficiencies of generation. You might be able to power your TV directly from that. If you just charge a battery you could generate 1kWh from about 10 hours of cycling.

A pro cyclist could do a bit better. Mathieu Van der Poel won the 280 kilometre Tour of Flanders at the weekend. He was riding for 6.5 hours and generated about 1.8kWh in that time.
 
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Tom|Nbk said:
I don't like the idea of paying for something which I can't monitor, glad I have my smart meter however it is a V1 without the in home display, but I get KWH readings daily from the meter by logging into the web portal, they're delivering me an in home display soon and upgrading the software on my meter so I can monitor it constantly.
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I am even charging my phone and watch at home! lol

My TV is OLED too, so no more Plasma (radiator) TV. Also, I am resisting going home at lunchtime now too (5min drive), instead, I go to the staff kitchen and get toast instead.

Free food, fuel saved.
 
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chrcoluk said:
The wind is all over the place on the graph, looks very volatile to me. Solar not volatile, but clearly needs something covering for it in winter.

Priority should always be cost to the consumer, which reliability will always play a part off, renewables is cool and all but ideology shouldnt rule the roost. So my own perspective is we need to keep Nuclear long term, probably for at least 50% of usage, and the rest could be perhaps shared between multiple renewable sources.
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volatility ido not the same as reliability. The volatility can be modelled and capacity factors incorporated into the national grid. The fact is, the more wind power is added to the grid, the less volatility there is because wind has very low spatial correlation.

And frankly, your opinion is just not that useful unéess you are a domain expert. Actual experts, with decades pf experience , don't believe nuclear needs to be part of our future energy mix. Most prominently, experts in areas of nuclear energy policy don't think nuclear is required or desirable for a future 100% renewable energy
 
well to make you all feel a bit better my average daily consumption is 32-38kw doesn't matter what I do it never goes below that is what it is I suppose joys of an old house.
i don't understand how some people are managing to get under 10 kw a day :eek: good going
 
NotAGolf said:
How much energy could you generate if you hooked up a spin bike/turbo trainer to a battery?

Maybe I could power my lights in the evening whilst getting exercise. Or maybe I could invite Chris Hoy/Jason Kenny round and power my TV for the week :D
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some company is bringing out an aexercise bike with a battery bank
https://energym.io/collections/regen/products/the-regen
£2000 lol... you could probably rig your own really easy with an old bike and an alternator or whatever....

Dynamo lights have been around since decades
 
Electroshadow said:
well to make you all feel a bit better my average daily consumption is 32-38kw doesn't matter what I do it never goes below that is what it is I suppose joys of an old house.
i don't understand how some people are managing to get under 10 kw a day :eek: good going
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Do you have electric heating or an EV?

Those are massive numbers for a normal user.
 
Electroshadow said:
well to make you all feel a bit better my average daily consumption is 32-38kw doesn't matter what I do it never goes below that is what it is I suppose joys of an old house.
i don't understand how some people are managing to get under 10 kw a day :eek: good going
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What on earth? we need more information, what's running in the house / house size etc.
 
Electroshadow said:
well to make you all feel a bit better my average daily consumption is 32-38kw doesn't matter what I do it never goes below that is what it is I suppose joys of an old house.
i don't understand how some people are managing to get under 10 kw a day :eek: good going
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What has your house got no roof?

Jesus

This years cost/house upgrade will be new windows and doors through out.

My attic floor is already insulated to above the required level, im tempted to do the inside of the roof with foam insulation, i wonder what the benefits if any would be.
 
Electroshadow said:
well to make you all feel a bit better my average daily consumption is 32-38kw doesn't matter what I do it never goes below that is what it is I suppose joys of an old house.
i don't understand how some people are managing to get under 10 kw a day :eek: good going
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Depending on your property 8-11 is kind of average, excluding heating which is usually gas.
 
for as long as I can remember I've always used the same amount of electricity even at my previous house although when costs were 11pence per KW it wasn't a problem.

obviously, the number 1 thing is the hot tub but it's on a separate supply which I know only uses 8kw a day in winter, as a quality of life/ recovery item I'm not gonna turn it off atm.

apart from that, it's just 2 people in the house 1 work from home so just the usual really:

laptop & screen on 14 hours a day
boys gaming pc 6 hours

cold water fish tank

Coffee machine
2 x Fridge freezers
dishwasher once a day
1 washing load a day
tumble dryer if use
oil boiler on for couple hours a day between heating and hot water
all bulbs are led
TV rarely on

just an old house really neighbors are probably connected up to my electric, like they were with my water when I first moved in £500 water quarters anyone:rolleyes:

roof is old clay tile and the windows are most likely 30 year old uPVC double glazing that needs replacing but 21 windows ranging from 1mx1.4m to 1.8x1.5m not a cheap job, the temparature can drop quickly in the house in winter.
 
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Electroshadow said:
for as long as I can remember I've always used the same amount of electricity even at my previous house although when costs were 11pence per KW it wasn't a problem.

obviously, the number 1 thing is the hot tub but it's on a separate supply which I know only uses 8kw a day in winter, as a quality of life/ recovery item I'm not gonna turn it off atm.

apart from that, it's just 2 people in the house 1 work from home so just the usual really:

laptop & screen on 14 hours a day
boys gaming pc 6 hours

cold water fish tank

Coffee machine
2 x Fridge freezers
dishwasher once a day
1 washing load a day
tumble dryer if use
boiler on for couple hours a day between heating and hot water
all bulbs are led
TV rarely on

just an old house really neighbors are probably connected up to my electric, like they were with my water when I first moved in £500 water quarters anyone:rolleyes:
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Here's how you can make an overnight difference....

Coffee machine
2 x Fridge freezers - sell / reduce to one, why two?
dishwasher once a day - a luxury item, get hand washing :D
1 washing load a day - make clothes last a day or so longer, are you washing a lot of towels?
tumble dryer if use - discontinue use, weather is mild enough now to hang up or hang round in warm room of house
boiler on for couple hours a day between heating and hot water
all bulbs are led
TV rarely on


Those items highlighted probably account for at least 5kwh / day.
 
Electroshadow said:
for as long as I can remember I've always used the same amount of electricity even at my previous house although when costs were 11pence per KW it wasn't a problem.

obviously, the number 1 thing is the hot tub but it's on a separate supply which I know only uses 8kw a day in winter, as a quality of life/ recovery item I'm not gonna turn it off atm.

apart from that, it's just 2 people in the house 1 work from home so just the usual really:

laptop & screen on 14 hours a day
boys gaming pc 6 hours

cold water fish tank

Coffee machine
2 x Fridge freezers
dishwasher once a day
1 washing load a day (once a week or 10 days for me)
tumble dryer if use
boiler on for couple hours a day between heating and hot water
all bulbs are led
TV rarely on

just an old house really neighbors are probably connected up to my electricity, like they were with my water when I first moved in £500 water quarters anyone:rolleyes:
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That explains it!

I cross out the stuff that I don't do, my computer may be on 4hrs in the evening at most. I use my phone mostly.
 
An interesting insight into peoples usage, if we all make these small changes our wallets / environment will thank us for it. I've become super obsessed about my energy usage not just elec.
 
To give my last months readings and total usage here it is. Not 100% sure why last week had so many days higher generally though :/
  • My Work 6am till 7pm
  • House mate 1 - work 8.30am till 5pm
  • House mate 2 - work 10.30am till 11pm
  • Cook 3 out 7 days with Oven & Gas Hob mix
  • TV on 3h a night x 2 on average
  • PC for gaming on when TV not so trade time accordingly
  • Kettle boiled x2 day average with only water needed (so about 2 mugs worth)
  • Charge mobile from 60% to 100% overnight x 3 phones
  • Washing machine 2x a week average
  • Weekend 2 young boys over so additional 14h total TV time + 8h PC time
  • I am not home Tuesday night, Friday night and Saturday nights myself
YgD3ldW.png
 
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Tom|Nbk said:
An interesting insight into peoples usage, if we all make these small changes our wallets / environment will thank us for it. I've become super obsessed about my energy usage not just elec.
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Unfortunately until the US etc start giving a single **** about the environment whatever we do is a tiny drop in the ocean.

As a very loose comparison, the US produces about 3x the CO2 per-capita of the UK. We should be doing what we can but we are roughly 66th in the world in per-capita emissions. Part of that is that we are not a manufacturing country but a large part of it is that we simply don't **** energy up the walls like other countries because its already expensive and we do have a vague national eye on emissions.
 
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