Looks like the ‘appliance of science’ there Nigel 
Just for the record, there are 25 million homes in the UK - so c. 2.3 people per house.
In this discussion we have to distinguish between average load and peak load.
The next big challenge for the UK is to wean itself off gas. One of the ways to do this is to pass laws that ensure that home and office heating can only be supplied from electricity derived directly from renewables (solar, wind and nuclear).
No more diesel or petrol (gasoline) cars can be sold in the UK after 2035 so the move is well underway here. I suspect there’ll still be a few old style cars on the road in 2050.
But, this is all a drop in the ocean when the biggest emitter globally counts for 30% of all carbon emissions and the 2nd biggest 16%.
Just for the record, there are 25 million homes in the UK - so c. 2.3 people per house.
In this discussion we have to distinguish between average load and peak load.
The next big challenge for the UK is to wean itself off gas. One of the ways to do this is to pass laws that ensure that home and office heating can only be supplied from electricity derived directly from renewables (solar, wind and nuclear).
No more diesel or petrol (gasoline) cars can be sold in the UK after 2035 so the move is well underway here. I suspect there’ll still be a few old style cars on the road in 2050.
But, this is all a drop in the ocean when the biggest emitter globally counts for 30% of all carbon emissions and the 2nd biggest 16%.
Well, that'll need a lot of investment.... That should have started years ago.
Renewables are growing but ccgt does the heavy lifting for generation and will for some time still...
It's heading off-topic, but: I am a UK- based architect - and the incentives (embedded in the Statutory consent routes of Planning Consent, and Building Regs, and demonstrable CapEx returns) to this end have been there for developers for the last decade, no, nearly 2; and we, usu as design lead, continue to push as far as possible in response to this end. There's a huge discussion in this direction on all sorts of things in c materials and procurement (&BTW site waste is a long-solved issue)
Oh, tl;dr; I've some developed opinions on this..., but so limited to UK context & political, I'll spare our many other contributors.
My peeve-pet says "ARRGH!" Don't mix kW and kWh carelessly!
> Two 3.4kW storage heaters run for 3.5 hours that take in 24kWh total each overnight.
I won't even try to sort-out "3kWh immersion heater". 3 Watts for 1,000 hours and it's dead? 3kW for 1 hour?
Yes, peak and average are different and very significant. My shack was 0.7KW (248V 2.7A) two hours ago, averages ~~1.5KW, and peaks to 15kW. Actually it peaks to 24kW when the pump starts for laundry: there is a 44 Amp surge for less than 100mS. The electric company does not notice. I notice because my line is long and the lights flicker. But if I try to start the pump on a 30A generator, it's real iffy. Sounds like a mower that hit a bale of wet hay.
Lots of renewables in NZ inc hydro and geothermal and plenty of wind (especially in Wellington. You can almost guarantee it will be nuclear free for decades to come such is the Anti Nuclear feeling here. Population 4.8m
Here's a link to the Network Dashboard. 84% renewable this Sunday afternoon.
Power System Live Data | Transpower
Here's a link to the Network Dashboard. 84% renewable this Sunday afternoon.
Power System Live Data | Transpower
Wow - that’s good! During the summer, the UK has managed running only off renewables for about 1 week IIRC. This has only started happening over the last few years. Of course in winter, no chance.
Still a long way to go!
Sorry
The storage heaters in the UK typically use multiples of 850 watt elements, so a 2.55kW heater uses three and a 3.4kW heater uses four such elements.
The 2.55kW has an 'intake' (if thats the correct term) of 18kW in total over a 7 hour overnight low tariff charge, the 3.4kW is rated at 24kW 'intake' over the same period.
The heaters don't start from cold each time, there is still some heat capacity left, probably I'd estimate at perhaps 10 to 15%.
We had a problem years ago with 'volt drop' in the cable in the road. I could pull the voltage down from 245 off load to around 216 when everything was on
Back then the UK voltage officially 240V -/+6%, not the watered down version they state today of 230 +10/-6% and so we got put onto another stiffer supply from an adjoining road. Now it doesn't dip below around 232 on full load.Immersion heater draws 3kW in one hour
The huge 3 bladed wind turbines might be the most efficient, but they are the wrong design as they are bird killers, have big energy transport losses to the user, create health damaging infra sound and don't last as long as they thought.
But things like this happen as we are living in so many lies; 'fossil fuel' is not fossil but a mineral oil and is regenerated by the earth. CO2 nonsense, global warming which changed into climate change as temps were dropping........ still waiting for the acid rain which would destroy cities 20 year ago....... the great barrier reef is fine and polar bears are plenty.
The biggest problem is that we keep on poisoning our habitats to safe the earth. The planet is fine!
But things like this happen as we are living in so many lies; 'fossil fuel' is not fossil but a mineral oil and is regenerated by the earth. CO2 nonsense, global warming which changed into climate change as temps were dropping........ still waiting for the acid rain which would destroy cities 20 year ago....... the great barrier reef is fine and polar bears are plenty.
The biggest problem is that we keep on poisoning our habitats to safe the earth. The planet is fine!
How better to make a pizza?
if I told any of my quite ESG nieces that their pizza was roasted on a coke fired oven they would melt down into a Sambo-esque puddle of melted mozzarella.
Back to topic -- mbe a remake of "The Sound of Music" with windmill trinacria decorating the horizon.
We have copper (even mined in NJ).
Our plant pays about $20k/month for electricity -- we have our own little substation so I^2R losses aren't great.
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Sorry
Well, maybe that is what they tell you, but clearly 2.55kW times 7 Hours is not 18kW but 18 KW-HOURS 'intake'.
I'm puzzled, Mooly, because your technical/audio answers are correct and precise, but you intermix utility power and energy like there's no difference.
I can pull-down from 250V to 220V at will, a similar droop.
Your electric bill has about two factors.
1) Power *times* time, kWh
2) Peak power, kW
Normal residences get a fairly generous peak power allowance and "never" need to consider it. You can turn on all your electric burners at once and the lights don't (shouldn't!) sag much. At your place, they did, the company admitted you were under-provisioned, and fixed you. At my place, the power is ample at the street, but the previous owner put in 500 feet of saggy line where the company would only cover 50 feet. It was adequate for a trailer, not to-spec for a house, but it's my money to upgrade. Tolerating light-dim is cheaper than $9k of new aluminum. Businesses negotiate their peak power (if average is near peak the deal is easy; if they suck big short peaks the wire-charge can exceed the energy charge).
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