No more coal power stations

[Morrisman]

and unlike the american films, when the power went off, it didn't go off a street at a time so you could see the power cut coming

And it didn’t make big ‘whomp’ sounds as each street went off, like they always do in the movies.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

You will have to be over 60 to remember the three day week, no tv after 10.30, sitting in the dark with candlelight and listening to a transistor radio ,eating sandwiches as the power was cut off for a few hours in the evening. That could happen again for a different reason now.
Please no responses about trade unions etc. Purely an observation that nobody under 50 will remember what it is like to be without power or go home early from work as you are about to be plunged into darkness.

You're clearly overestimating the stability of the UK's grid system, as we are averaging at least one of those a month in my village.

And underestimating how well travelled the younger forumites are...

Being plunged into "No Air-Con" by a power cut on a 48°C day in Kuwait brings home quite how utterly dependent we have become on electricity very quickly, as it rapidly becomes apparent your apartment building will be uninhabitable within an hour or two.

 

[Morrisman]

You're clearly overestimating the stability of the UK's grid system, as we are averaging at least one of those a month in my village.

And underestimating how well travelled the younger forumites are...

Being plunged into "No Air-Con" by a power cut on a 48°C day in Kuwait brings home quite how utterly dependent we have become on electricity very quickly, as it rapidly becomes apparent your apartment building will be uninhabitable within an hour or two.

Especially because there won’t be a single openable window in the joint to let a semblance of breeze through.

 

[pressbrake1]

As a kid, power cuts were one of the highlights of the evening.
Mum getting the candles out always made us so happy! I'll never forget the synchronised shout of "POWER CUT!!!!"

And cooking over the fire!

 

[RWD3M]

You're clearly overestimating the stability of the UK's grid system, as we are averaging at least one of those a month in my village.

And underestimating how well travelled the younger forumites are...

Being plunged into "No Air-Con" by a power cut on a 48°C day in Kuwait brings home quite how utterly dependent we have become on electricity very quickly, as it rapidly becomes apparent your apartment building will be uninhabitable within an hour or two.

First world problems eh?!

 

[optima21]

and unlike the american films, when the power went off, it didn't go off a street at a time so you could see the power cut coming

and speaking of power cuts in America, it is off topic, but it would be rude not to post a video of James Burkes Connections from the 1970's about a powercut that went all across America. He has a way with words on his documentaries.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Not sure it was a highlight seeing if there was a drop of warmth left in the storage heaters, the paraffin heater gently smouldering in the hall !!
Trouble is we rely on electric for everything these days, you wont even be able to make a phone call soon if we have a power cut

We were easily pleased.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

First world problems eh?!

It is amazing how quickly the 3rd world problems re-emerge with no energy supply.

But the increasingly uninhabitable building temperatures did create a very good turnout for a friendly between the local (Keralan expat) cricket side, and their rivals (Punjabi expats) from the next neighbourhood along the coast.

I had never before seen a cricket pitch on compacted sand, using a rough circle of buses, tanker lorries and pickup trucks parked to form a boundary line that also fits perfectly in the shadow of a tower block, but both teams were very good and utterly committed to playing sport at temperatures where a lot of people could barely think straight.

 

[gaz1]

China is running into serious environmental issues though. Their disregard of the environment is no longer working, Google cancer villages, they're a real thing. They've got plans to start going green.

we of the uk created it in the first place all for profit no point complaining about others when they are making our products for cheap labour and pullute by all means

if it was still in the uk and not shipped abroad then we would have to comply for better protection of the enviroment

as goes for coal gone we just replaced it with incineration of all the waste we produce

 

[Mark 5]

You will have to be over 60 to remember the three day week, no tv after 10.30, sitting in the dark with candlelight and listening to a transistor radio ,eating sandwiches as the power was cut off for a few hours in the evening. That could happen again for a different reason now.
Please no responses about trade unions etc. Purely an observation that nobody under 50 will remember what it is like to be without power or go home early from work as you are about to be plunged into darkness.

Indeed, many of us were there, been there.

And while Port Talbot is modernising and replacing with an arc furnace, a good thing I suppose, it's going to take 6 years + to complete the change over.

Meanwhile 2500 people + are going to lose their livelihoods, not really news to break out party hats.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

we of the uk created it in the first place all for profit no point complaining about others when they are making our products for cheap labour and pullute by all means

if it was still in the uk and not shipped abroad then we would have to comply for better protection of the enviroment

Ultimately there's a choice to be made about this, that will probably come sooner than most people will be comfortable with.

- Do we want to take the environmental problems seriously?

In which case we have to start taking these "Offshored" emissions and pollution seriously, and most likely end up imposing carbon/pollution duties on imports from countries which aren't complying with the mist up to date standards, to make it a level playing field.

or

- Do we want to continue to have a highly consumerist economy which is dependent on cheap and plentyful imports of tat?

In which case we just bury our heads in the sand, like a cartoon ostrich.

as goes for coal gone we just replaced it with incineration of all the waste we produce

View attachment 467237

The difference is that incineration (energy from waste) produces less than 3% of our electricity.

As compared to 96% of electricity from coal at the peak.

I deeply dislike the waste industry dishonestly calling EfW renewable or recycling (it's neither), but it's not really a big problem in terms of emissions.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

and unlike the american films, when the power went off, it didn't go off a street at a time so you could see the power cut coming

I was working in a pottery factory and the electricians had a huge hertz meter. They could see the hertz dropping before complete power cuts so they could kick in the pair of massive generators to keep the place operational

 

[lchris21]

Indeed, many of us were there, been there.

And while Port Talbot is modernising and replacing with an arc furnace, a good thing I suppose, it's going to take 6 years + to complete the change over.

Meanwhile 2500 people + are going to lose their livelihoods, not really news to break out party hats.

......no more coal power-stations......and joining them in the "no more" category....no more blast furnaces from today. Plug is being pulled today, no more virgin steel production capacity, what a travesty. Nerrr mind all them highly paid, highly skilled green jobs will need filling tomorrow morning . All the woke envrio campaigners can now pat themselves on the back, move onto the next victims, whilst thousands of locals line up at the local benefits office.
Adding an electric arc furnace on the grid demands seems like a good idea They better hurry up with HPC or that EAF will be on and off more them my kettle in the kitchen

 

[magnet]

And weirdly, I have fond memories of those times

Aye the hiss of the tilley lamp

 

[bricol]

And it didn’t make big ‘whomp’ sounds as each street went off, like they always do in the movies.

I swear when I set a speed camera off in the dark on the M1 last year, there was a big "whomp" noise in the car as it lit up though . . .

 

[bricol]

At my last house, those of us on one phase seemed to repeatedly suffer "brown outs". At this house, only ever had a couple of short full on power cuts in 14 yrs.

I was in a hotel in Olympia last year when the power went out all over the area as I was about to go for brekkie at 6am - poor lass on reception was being personally blamed by guests.

I had made a dash by torch light for the breakfast area to grab hot food while it was till hot.

Most amusing bit was the guy on my floor, despite the evidence of no light, no power, no TV, who hadn't and couldn't work out why the lifts weren't working . . . also had no idea where the stairs were - first thing I find, just in-case!

 

[Martin Hocking]

We used to get regular power cuts in stormy weather at our old house. Always used to be quite fun really. The kids used to love it when we got the candles out and cooked beans and toast on the woodburner.

That was until we had one that lasted three days and we all went slightly mad in the end. Drinking water out of the big gallon bottles and flushing the loo by bucket out of the water butt. (Code browns only)

Halfway through day two I took to cutting the lead off the broadband router and hooking it up to a 12v battery so the children could watch telly for a bit!

I felt like Lofty Wiseman after that! Man make fire, man get food, man make internet!

 

[cheb]

Not sure it was a highlight seeing if there was a drop of warmth left in the storage heaters, the paraffin heater gently smouldering in the hall !!
Trouble is we rely on electric for everything these days, you wont even be able to make a phone call soon if we have a power cut

Do you know this for sure or is it just supposition? I live somewhere that used to have a lot of power cuts and the phones still worked, both landline and mobile. The small local exchanges round here have automatic back up power systems. We have fewer power cuts now as most of the transmission network has been duplicated, if one line goes down the other is used. The power companies also send extra staff over if there is a particularly bad forecast.

2005 comes to mind, the worst storm for decades, even old codgers had never seen it so bad. The power was off for a few days, we still had the internet with dial up on a land line using a laptop. At it's peak the windspeed exceeded 100mph for over an hour. That wasn't the gusts, that was the base speed, it was impressive to experience.

 

[Stupoty]

The small local exchanges round here have automatic back up power systems.

The phones used to be run from battery supply , I have some books with photos of the old battery rooms(halls ?) used to power the exchanges.

Stu

 

[Morrisman]

Indeed, many of us were there, been there.

And while Port Talbot is modernising and replacing with an arc furnace, a good thing I suppose, it's going to take 6 years + to complete the change over.

Meanwhile 2500 people + are going to lose their livelihoods, not really news to break out party hats.

Just watching bbc it says port Talbot is closing down for good.