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More on Carbon, Footprints and Smart Metering
Footprints
We realise that using fossil fuels over the past hundred years (see page 7a) has given rise to global warming and this is likely to give rise to serious climatic consequences not in geological time scales but in the life time of our children. If we look at yearly emissions of carbon dioxide we get a staggering total of 29 Gt (over 7 Gt if measured in terms of carbon) as the following chart shows:-
Every person on the planet will emit carbon into the atmosphere and so we all leave our Carbon Footprints for everyone else to see. Why not work yours out now? Use the calculator provided free by Carbon Footprint Ltd:-
All you have to do is work along the tabs , House, Flights ..... answering a series of question and these are totalled up in the results section. (A few figures to enter into the calculator if yours are not conveniently at hand - 2,500 kWh for electricity each year, 20,000kWh p.a. for gas, 10,000 miles in a Ford focus and a "sunshine" holiday to Florida, modest living. Note, there doesn't appear to be any entry for sports and leasure but perhaps you can add a little to the other entries).
Start by clicking here .
Without much effort one gets to a figure of between 10 and 15 tonnes of CO2 emission each year and that is a sizeable footprint. Multiplied by a population of 7 billion would give a global total of between 70 Gt to 105 Gt.
Of course, not all people are living in such an affluent manner and one can look at lists of per capita emission -
So, although China appears on the first diagram to be the major culprit with regards to CO2 emissions, we see that for each individual person their emissions are considerably less than many other people in the world.
At present the world average footprint is about 2 tonnes annual carbon dioxide emission giving a total of 14 Gt for the whole global population. Added to this are contributions from industry and services giving a grand total of about 29 Gt (or 7.9 Gt if measured as carbon ). In the next few years this is bound to increase as shown in the following chart ( units Gt carbon ):-
If we could stabilise at, say, 40 Gt (about 11 Gt carbon on the diagram above), and, as stated on page 7a, we ensure that our maximum future cummulative emissions must be less than 2000 Gt ( 544 Gt in measured carbon ) ; a simple division gives 50 years which is an alarmingly short time span !! That is some target.
But we have smart metering to help us.
Smart Metering
Intelligent electronics has been around for two or three decades now (see 100 years of electronics https://sth-se.diino.com/f.thompson/migrated_data/EandH ) and a natural application into energy monitoring comes as no surprise. Even with non-smart metering we can easily see what our energy consumption is - just read the gas and electricity meters:-
This shows that the gas is switched off in the summer months inorder to conserve energy.
A very simple semi-smart meter, for domestic use, is shown below:-
A base station is clipped to one of the mains leads that comes to the main switch board near the present electricity meter. This transmits information by a radio signal to a receive monitor (pictured above) and this can be situated anywhere in the house. The display can give real-time readings of power being used, the costs involved or the equivalent carbon emission. By observing the monitor it is thought that one is more likely to switch off appliances and so conserve electricity.
For those unsure about electrical units, think of a supplier (EDF or E-ON) having a big tank of water outside your home and you take water from that tank by turning on a tap. You pay the supplier, of course, for the amount of water taken. So a small flow for a short time will only give you a cup full, say, and that will be a small cost whereas a tub full could involve turning the tap "full on" so a greater quantity of water flows. Think of the flow ( how much the tap is turned on ) as being called kilo Watts (kW) , then how long the tap is turned on for gives us a combined unit kilo Watt hours (kWh) and that is what we are charged for.
Here are some values of power:- Freezer 0.19 kW, Fridge 0.12 kW, Kettle 2.2 kW, TV 0.10 kW, Microwave 1.34 kW, Shower 4.01 kW, Cooker (variable) one element 1.68 kW, Washing machine (variable) 0.5 kW to 5 kW, Computer (variable) 0.2 kW but with operation of printer 0.43 kW, Toaster 0.89 kW, Immersion Heater 3.05 kW, Lawn Mower (variable depending on length of grass) 0.95 to 1.25 kW.... . As we know this recorded power is only part of the story and if , say, our immersion heater is left on for 1 hour we would be charged for about 3 kWh, TV watched for a day (24 hours!) would give 2.4 kWh. So, having amassed complete power ratings of all one's electrical appliances we can carry out an energy audit. An example for our kitchen is now included:
Other rooms can be added to this and one can see that a daily total of 7 kWh, as obtained from the "mains" electricity meter, will be a perfectly reasonable value.
In addition to the above metering the government is to order each household to install so called Smart Meters. We are told that - "they have the potential to revolutionise the energy industry" (Duncan Sedgwick, Chief Executive of the Energy Retail Association)
What additional information Smart Meters will provide is not certain at this moment of time but it will undoubtedly have radio contact with the internet and so provide automatic meter reading. The goverment will make it mandatory that all premises are equiped with these so called "smart meters " and the Energy Retail Association, www.energy-retail.org.uk/smartmeters , is keeping the public informed of current progress. Customers will have more fexibility about choosing suppliers and tariffs but whether it will lead to large energy saving is more questionable. The cost of installation is likely to be high and, have no doubts, this will fall on the customers door step either directly or as increased tariffs.
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