Why does it matter?Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyblades
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Why does it matter?Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyblades
Well the simple principle of: "I get told off for leaving a light on and those jerks dont, why not? Grr grr"
You're still entitled to burn as much energy as you like, whether you need it or not. The question is, why do it if you don't need it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyblades
...What's that got to do with them? I'm not complaining that I should save energy, I've got two sets of blooming solar panels on my roof for that, I'm complaining why buisnesses seem to get a free pass to go unprotested as far as I see.
It's not about them, it's about you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyblades
...What?
I was thinking in terms of what construction techniques were used, is there insulation in the walls or the copper tank, did they follow good plans for natural light etc etc. Is it of brick, block or even massed concrete construction they all have different energy needs to run as a building.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyblades
I agree it is annoying to see lights on all night but then your coming to a situtation of work out for energy in, is the energy used properly and has it been used in a way that paid for itself. (efficiently)
Well businesses are nowadays a bit more serious about energy use, purely because it is a part of there costs they can change with a bit of effort unlike wages.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyblades
If I had to guess there probably LED downlights basically only a couple of watts at most. 4 maybe 5 watt instead of 40 or 50 watt halogenQuote:
Originally Posted by Greyblades
I trusted that Greyblades had the ability to figure the answer for himself as he was clever enough to spot the inconsistency in the first place.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vuk
IT???? the entire observable universe encompassing all matter and energy created many billions of years ago, or just the idea of climate change or just the human ability to cause any.Quote:
You realize it is all BS don't you?
Power companies most certainly take residential power into account otherwise no one could have a coffee during the first add break of a new simpsons episode.Quote:
Two of my bros are electrical power engineering technicians, and they told me that when power plants are looking at how much power they need to generate, they do not even take residential usage into account because it is so insignificant. The vast majority (I don't know off-hand how much, but my guess is well over 95%) of power generated is used for industrial purposes, and then stepped-down for residential usage. Have your lights on all day, don't have 'em on at all; it makes no difference. The entire amount of power that is generated for non-industrial use is completely insignificant.
Actually they do tell us because it is one of the most quoted facts people spout on the internet in relation to energy use.Quote:
If you wanted to save energy, you would have to do it on the manufacturing and industrial side of things. That is where real power is used, and if you wanted to make any real change, that is where you would start. Of course no one ever tells you that the environmental impact of producing something like a Prius instead of, say, a gasoline powered Focus far out-weighs the difference in environmental impact of running them.
Let me be clear here there is NO free energy and certainly no production without some kind of carbon release. Often it's downstream and sometimes it is upstream but somewhere in a products lifecycle there is carbon release.
As a mechanical engineer I am well aware of where large energy use occurs in our society, has it occured to you that consumerism is the cause of overly large industrial footprints. Industry wouldnt need such huge energy if they didnt have to make many of the items we crave, our consumption is the cause of the carbon release by the producer for the consumer.Quote:
The largest environmental impact is not made by the consumer, but the producer. If you wanted to lessen your impact on the environment, you focus on buying things that were produced with the smallest environmental impact. For instance, over the long term, standard incandescent light bulbs have a lot less impact on the environment than modern ones. Why? The manufacturing. Have you ever taken one of those things apart? Chip boards, diodes, inductors, capacitors, etc, etc. You gotta use your brain. Most of the environmentally friendly BS out there, actually has a much bigger impact on the environment being produced, for small savings being used. They normally do not last as long, and therefore many more have to be produced in the same time period, making them have an even greater environmental impact.
Your point about the energy saving bulbs while well made misses the point that the aim here is to efficiently use the energy for the same output. This will mean the power company pollutes less for the same amount of lights left on. An incandessant bulb is simple but it is wasteful of energy, that doesnt mean there are not reasons to use incandessant bulbs though.
The point should always be to asses your consumption of energy and draw up a plan and to make changes based on that, select the proper tools or systems of use required to achieve the goal.
Quite. It's all about the amps, anyway and most of these lights work with small currents. (An indication LED needs about 10mA for instance, which is still a lot.)Quote:
Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy
For instance large neon signs don't require particularly much power, they work similar to LED's only at much bigger voltages. So if you have a neon sign which operates at 10-20kV voltage, and assuming current draw is about the same as an indication LED (surely wrong but you get the point) then that's still only 10-20W of power.