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[Nickbat]

An honest question. Those who read my post in the Wind Power Scam thread will, however, know why I am asking.

For me, it would be very, very difficult to manage. I work from home and the PC is as important a tool to me as a saw is to a carpenter. Without electricity, my work would be severely disrupted. Indeed, I might well lose work. My central heating is electrically controlled, as too is my oven. My shower is electric...etc., etc.

So, I would be cold (in the winter at least), bored, hungry, unclean...and poorer.

Well, it's no great burden is it?       

[Lizzie_Zoom]

For political and practical reasons I cannot see any government allowing the situation get to that stage as our whole lives utterly depend on electricity, unlike the far off days of 1973!

The National Grid are pumping in £22 billion pounds into upgrading the distribution of power, and power generation is receiving attention as we all know the limits of the existing system.  New coal fired stations, then atomic ones will plug the shortfall, with imported French electricity being used in the interim IF necessary.

To repeat, NO government is going to let the lights go out!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

....................I would also add that the power generation industry is very big business that only makes profits when generating electricity.  It is therefore in their interests to ensure they supply the demand for all power needs to maintain the bottom lines.  Any shortfall is lost opportunity measured in billions of pounds. 

In business you do not let that happen, and once more the government cannot afford for it to transpire!

[mrgreen]

yes i think about these things regularly and i have angst for the future, over the decades there's always been uncertain times but with the reports (or as some may say scare mongering) that's about i take this shite to heart! for me self efficiency is the way to go back to basics and i think if you're prepared you can survive hard times for me i take it as it comes and want to be able to say i can burn wood to get warm e.t.c but in all honesty is that going to happen?? for me whilst electicity is a foundation of modern society as is all fuel (without it the world will become a totally different place) the worry has to be rising food prices which also goes hand in hand, but to be honest i think a new technology will come along which will see an end to all of this and we will go back to a normal way of life, what it usually takes is a war to get the governments investing heavily in these things because when they are really needed that's what pushes new tech's forward (i:e internet!) and at this rate it maybe sooner rather than later!

[Nickbat]

....................I would also add that the power generation industry is very big business that only makes profits when generating electricity.  It is therefore in their interests to ensure they supply the demand for all power needs to maintain the bottom lines.  Any shortfall is lost opportunity measured in billions of pounds. 

In business you do not let that happen, and once more the government cannot afford for it to transpire!

Hmm, but when the UK has signed up a non-achievable target of 15% renewable energy by 2020, and when there is a gap between the decommisioning of a number of coal & nuclear plants and new ones coming on stream, there are many who believe that "brown-outs" (rolling cuts) are unavoidable.

As far as importing French nuclear power is concerned, Scotland has already relied upon it this winter:
http://news.scotsman.com/news/39Green39-Scotland-relying-on-French.6672024.jp

I think we in the Uk have, too.

But, at the end of the day, if the National Grid says that the days of constant home electricity is coming to an end, who am I to argue that it isn't so?     

[Nickbat]

"In private, the best-informed analysts now agree that Britain's environmental policies have put the country on track to have the world's most expensive electricity."

http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/features-janfeb-11-renewables-will-not-keep-the-lights-on-john-constable-wind-power-energy

So, in summary, the CEO of the National Grid says that we will have to get used to using power only when it is available, not all the time, while analysts suggest that even when we do get the power on, it will be the most expensive in the world.

Our country is set to go backwards economically, something which both saddens and angers me. 

[Taxi_Driver]

I could! 

But i would pop out and buy a 6KW diesel generator and hook that up 
There not that expensive.....less than £1k and enough to power most household equipment.....albeit maybe not all at the same time.....certainly not an electric shower.....but then i have a power shower 

[Mysteryman]

If the power kept

[Mysteryman]

going off, then replies would

[Mysteryman]

start looking like this.

[pscocoa]

I could! 

But i would pop out and buy a 6KW diesel generator and hook that up 
There not that expensive.....less than £1k and enough to power most household equipment.....albeit maybe not all at the same time.....certainly not an electric shower.....but then i have a power shower 

Yes - African experience - when I was out there 20 years ago we had auto cut in generators to the houses for when power failed - downside is the noise when they all kick in around the neighbourhood.

Unfortunately where I was, the generator was running several hours a day.

House design would be a bit different.

[Varche]

I do live in a country where power cuts are common. Our HV transformer for the village was cheap when it was installed in 1982 and is "rusty".

Like everyone else we manage. wind up torches, rechargeable torches, candles and two UPS for the computers. Most cuts are only a millisecond but we do have more significant outages in the depths of winter during storms. You just learn to manage!

An English neighbour isn't on mains electric(ours is 3 phase to get us 5.5KW) and he uses a generator. He has a shed full of broken ones as he started off cheap and broke it, traded up and so on.

Britain has got to face up to building nuclear power stations and now. It has been delayed too long.   

[Chris_H]

An honest question. Those who read my post in the Wind Power Scam thread will, however, know why I am asking.

For me, it would be very, very difficult to manage. I work from home and the PC is as important a tool to me as a saw is to a carpenter. Without electricity, my work would be severely disrupted. Indeed, I might well lose work. My central heating is electrically controlled, as too is my oven. My shower is electric...etc., etc.

So, I would be cold (in the winter at least), bored, hungry, unclean...and poorer.

Well, it's no great burden is it?       

Lots of countries suffer power outages and they cope fine.  Some scheduled, others not.  It's just a matter of adjusting.  As mentioned elsewhere, there are UPSs, generators and common sense to apply.

The chances are your ISP is protected so with a laptop going to batteries, all you might need to cover is the broadband modem to have a graceful shutdown.  Carrying-on working takes a bit more investment but it's not rocket science.  Just don't go to the shops to buy the stuff at the same time as everybody else!