- Joined
- 27 Jan 2008
- Messages
- 25,038
- Reaction score
- 2,903
- Location
- Llanfair Caereinion, Nr Welshpool
- Country
I read a thread where in the reply it was stated that the electric demand is now higher than it was.
I started to consider this.
* My lighting now clearly uses less with CFL and LED.
* My TV and most my AV equipment uses less with LED screen rather than cathode ray.
* My Fridge and Freezer are more economical and also use less.
* My Washing Machine also is claimed to use less energy.
The list could go on. There are a few items which we did not have within the first few years of moving into this house in 1980 but I would have thought my power requirements have gone down.
If I look at just post war the whole idea of the 13A socket was for electric heating the ideas just didn't work and the brick storage radiators would not be considered today we would want something far more controllable.
Clearly as a nation we are now using more power but we also have far more houses so it's hard to say if a house built even back in 1954 today uses more or less power.
My parents had solid fuel cooking to start with so when the old Eagle grate was replaced with an electric cooker the power used would have gone up. But since then far more efficient cookers have come out so it would have gone down again.
When my house was built the bath water was electricity heated today it's heated with gas and we rarely have a bath in the main we have a shower.
So clearly there will have been some peaks and troughs to any graph draw for electric power used in a house say 1954 to present day but I suspect there is on average no more electric power used today than back in 1954 when the first new houses since the war were being built.
Clearly pre war houses had gas lighting and only two power sockets so until rewired they would clearly have a lower electric usage and the war stopped houses being built or modified but I would suspect any house built 1954 or latter or re-wired 1954 or latter likely uses less electric power today than when re-wired or built.
So why do I see so often the claim we now use more power?
There are a few heavy uses of electric power which were not around in 1960. The electric shower although actually uses less power than filling a bath. The tumble drier therefore would seem the only real heavy use of electric power not used in 1960.
Am I over looking something?
I started to consider this.
* My lighting now clearly uses less with CFL and LED.
* My TV and most my AV equipment uses less with LED screen rather than cathode ray.
* My Fridge and Freezer are more economical and also use less.
* My Washing Machine also is claimed to use less energy.
The list could go on. There are a few items which we did not have within the first few years of moving into this house in 1980 but I would have thought my power requirements have gone down.
If I look at just post war the whole idea of the 13A socket was for electric heating the ideas just didn't work and the brick storage radiators would not be considered today we would want something far more controllable.
Clearly as a nation we are now using more power but we also have far more houses so it's hard to say if a house built even back in 1954 today uses more or less power.
My parents had solid fuel cooking to start with so when the old Eagle grate was replaced with an electric cooker the power used would have gone up. But since then far more efficient cookers have come out so it would have gone down again.
When my house was built the bath water was electricity heated today it's heated with gas and we rarely have a bath in the main we have a shower.
So clearly there will have been some peaks and troughs to any graph draw for electric power used in a house say 1954 to present day but I suspect there is on average no more electric power used today than back in 1954 when the first new houses since the war were being built.
Clearly pre war houses had gas lighting and only two power sockets so until rewired they would clearly have a lower electric usage and the war stopped houses being built or modified but I would suspect any house built 1954 or latter or re-wired 1954 or latter likely uses less electric power today than when re-wired or built.
So why do I see so often the claim we now use more power?
There are a few heavy uses of electric power which were not around in 1960. The electric shower although actually uses less power than filling a bath. The tumble drier therefore would seem the only real heavy use of electric power not used in 1960.
Am I over looking something?