Conserving Energy in the Home

[Thunderchild]

well managing resources means that you will not have ALL the lights on in your house just so that you don't have to bother to turn them on and off when you go from room to room, it also means having the room heating on so that you may need to dress to the season just the same but not go as far as 3 jumpers, having heating on so high that you can sit in a room in a tshirt in winter is a waste, I'm afraid that adequate resource management is going to be a very wide gray area !

 

[Mr RB]

Hmmm.... A whole heap of posts have been deleted from the end of the thread...

 

[Thunderchild]

any idea why ?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Because they were from, and in response, a now banned user - and of no relevence to this thread.

 

[colin55]

I throw out a whole rubbish-bin of advertising material each month. This is one of the most wasteful uses of resources. It takes litres of water to produce even a single sheet of paper and I can hardly lift the rubbish bin.
The most wasteful book in the world is the telephone directory.
You see 50% of them being recycled with the original plastic wrapping still covering them!
What change do you really think you can make to the world when China is building 3 new electricity power generating plants each week! And India is coming on-stream with energy consumption.
Here's a point you haven't considered: Every shipping-container of product will eventually finish at the tip as houses have reached saturation-level and yearly rubbish collections are getting bigger and bigger.
The cost of recycling anything is 4 times greater than its actual production-cost.
This applies to wood, brick, paper, water and all types of metals.
I don't have an answer and of course I would install solar panels, solar heating and run my car on electrolised hydrogen, if I could be convinced it was possible and viable.

 

[Thunderchild]

I take an extreme distaste to the amount of rubbish we buy from china. and whos fault is it ?: the goverments for alowing manufacturing in our own countries do become obsolete in favour of any old junk chine turns out. I just received an oscilloscope from china, they are that damned cheap skate that they didn't even bother to screen the psu off from the scope circuit, a simple and cheap task that has ruined a whole unit. I have voided warranty and opened it to find this out and think of a cure but many people will just get fed up with it and move on to something else, binning it. the sheer quasntity along with low quslity comming out of china is appaling, pound and 99p shops are all very good but moth of their products are so badly made they are 5 minute wonders.

 

[colin55]

I have had the exact opposite experience to Chinese/overseas products. I have a TV that has never been switched off for 10 years. I bought a set of digital calipers for $20.00 whereas my original plastic dial calipers cost me $35.00 25 years ago.
All Aldi products are Chinese and they get a miniscule return on faulty items.
If China produced rubbish, Aldi would be out of business.

 

[Mr RB]

...
I have a TV that has never been switched off for 10 years...

And you confess that in THIS thread??

Repent sinner and confess thy energy sins, or ye shalt be burnt at the stake by the Home Conservation Inquisitor...

Hang on... Is burning at the stake energy efficient??

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hang on... Is burning at the stake energy efficient??

It is if you use the heat to boil water

 

[ericgibbs]

Hang on... Is burning at the stake energy efficient??

Its efficient, but not 'eco' friendly, just think about all the carbon dioxide that would be released from burning that much..........

 

[bryan1]

Hang on... Is burning at the stake energy efficient??

Na guys forget the the burning at the stake afterall why add to the carbon debate and besides that the stench for the locals would be unbearable. I vote for a good hog tying, coated in honey then thrown onto a bull ant hill. With a smelly sock in the mouth it will be non too harsh on the ears too....

 

[giftiger_wunsch]

Hang on... Is burning at the stake energy efficient??

The more efficient method would be to force him to run on a treadmill until he's on the verge of death from exhaustion, and then burn him on the stake, use the heat to boil water, and drive a turbine.

...and yet my idea still isn't as harsh as bryan's

 

[Mr RB]

Hmmm. Perhaps we can be more innovative? What about building a great big reflector...

And "solar bake" him at the stake???

Poor colin55 has gone mysteriously quiet. Maybe he's gone to turn that TV off!

 

[ericgibbs]

Poor colin55 has gone mysteriously quiet. Maybe he's gone to turn that TV off!

He probably hasnt worked out yet that he can use the same switch to turn it OFF as the one he turned it ON with.

 

[Thunderchild]

The more efficient method would be to force him to run on a treadmill until he's on the verge of death from exhaustion, and then burn him on the stake, use the heat to boil water, and drive a turbine.

...and yet my idea still isn't as harsh as bryan's

yea good idea

 

[giftiger_wunsch]

I must admit I'm pretty impressed that his TV could even survive 10 years without ever being turned off. I shudder to think how many times over he's paid for the TV in electricity bill though.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I must admit I'm pretty impressed that his TV could even survive 10 years without ever being turned off. I shudder to think how many times over he's paid for the TV in electricity bill though.

A number of years ago now, we had a rental customer with a B&W set who had never turned the TV off since she had it, she simply turned the volume and brightness right down

The set never broke down, but when she did call us out to it, the CRT was completely knackered!

 

[giftiger_wunsch]

Hmmm. Perhaps we can be more innovative? What about building a great big reflector...

And "solar bake" him at the stake???

Sounds like an episode of mythbusters! Anyone seen the test of setting fire to distant ships using a giant array of mirrors?

Far too wasteful though! Just think of the length of time you could power your entire house in the time it'd take to burn someone to death with mirrors.

 

[Thunderchild]

Sounds like an episode of mythbusters! Anyone seen the test of setting fire to distant ships using a giant array of mirrors?

Far too wasteful though! Just think of the length of time you could power your entire house in the time it'd take to burn someone to death with mirrors.

hm yea scrap that not efficient enough !

 

[The Mad Professor]

So many fine energy saving suggestions, yet nobody has mentioned how to save energy by running the PC in front of them more efficiently.