PowerSwitch

I know this is obvious to anyone who's thought about it, but it's still interesting to test it out.

3 hours running my laptop (in low power mode) from my small DC solar setup: energy saved = 0.05kWh

Boiling an electric kettle to make two cups of coffee: energy used = 0.06kWh

I think I'll stop bothering using the solar kit for my laptop and just keep it floating the battery for emergency use (as the power does go off here), and make more of an effort to use my Kelly Kettle to make hot drinks instead!

I suppose it depends how far you have to drive to find a few twigs. If everyone in a town used Kelly Kettles, there would soon be a local "Peak Twig"!

I must start using mine, instead of gas!

I just bring logs back from the woods, and use a froe to split them into sticks. There's a neat trick to do this using a bike inner tube, see 2m20s into this video I made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZPvLpexXFw

(And no, I didn't buy the gadget I'm reviewing, I was given it to do the review...)

JohnB wrote:I suppose it depends how far you have to drive to find a few twigs.

I just had to laugh at that sentence.

emordnilap wrote:

JohnB wrote:I suppose it depends how far you have to drive to find a few twigs.

I just had to laugh at that sentence.

Do you think it's funny, or were you cruelly laughing at the person who wrote it?

Yes.

What kind of guilty conscience is at work here?

John. I was laughing at the thought of jumping in a car and going driving around looking for small bit of combustible material for an energy-conscious way of brewing up.

emordnilap wrote:John. I was laughing at the thought of jumping in a car and going driving around looking for small bit of combustible material for an energy-conscious way of brewing up.

That's all right then

mikepepler wrote:I know this is obvious to anyone who's thought about it, but it's still interesting to test it out.

3 hours running my laptop (in low power mode) from my small DC solar setup: energy saved = 0.05kWh

Boiling an electric kettle to make two cups of coffee: energy used = 0.06kWh

I think I'll stop bothering using the solar kit for my laptop and just keep it floating the battery for emergency use (as the power does go off here), and make more of an effort to use my Kelly Kettle to make hot drinks instead!

You should be using both, Mike. If you've got the kit it doesn't cost you anything to use it and, to make up for the embodied energy in it's manufacture, you should use it.

Yes, of course I should do both. My main point is that a £40 kettle saves more energy than £400 of PV and associated kit...

This is what you need. Ideal for working in woodland if it's as wet as mine
http://newsroom.orange.co.uk/2010/06/07 ... r-wellies/

I wouldn't say no to one of those.

mikepepler wrote:Yes, of course I should do both. My main point is that a £40 kettle saves more energy than £400 of PV and associated kit...

yes, its the law of diminishing returns. Most relevant for those just starting out...like insulate your house properly before you put solar thermal or PV on your roof.

if you've already picked all the "low hanging fruit" then by all means go the extra mile and do the PV. Or donate to someone else to help pay for their low hanging fruit if they can't otherwise afford it....which is roughly the principle behind carbon offsetting but has been much maligned...

emordnilap wrote:I wouldn't say no to one of those.

Have you only got one leg then

JohnB wrote:

emordnilap wrote:I wouldn't say no to one of those.

Have you only got one leg then

Never heard it called that before.

JohnB wrote:This is what you need. Ideal for working in woodland if it's as wet as mine
http://newsroom.orange.co.uk/2010/06/07 ... r-wellies/

Cor - she would warm me up rightly....