Beyond the Green Light Signal

[DamonHD]

In case this may be of interest to some here:

 

https://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-Green-Light-Signal-and-Beyond.html

 

"Using some low-key IoT and WiFi magic to try to reduce electricity consumption at bad times, inspired by the UK's National Grid!"

 

Still in progress, but I'm out of puff for this evening!

 

Rgds

 

Damon

[ProDave]

Yes overly complicated,

 

Why not just have one "green" dial on something like gridwatch, so you just have to look at a web page (no app, no sign up, no registering) to see how green the grid is at that instant?

[Roundtuit]

A great initiative.  Just one thought, from someone without the benefit of 'normal' colour perception (and there are more of us than you might think!) is that lights tinged red and green wouldn't get a place in the house.

[SteamyTea]

50 minutes ago, DamonHD said:

https://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-Green-Light-Signal-and-Beyond.html

TL;DR

 

But I am still keeping records of my usage, and since the beginning of the year, I have used 

 0.000001 of the grid capacity

This does rise to 0.0000110% at 3AM for an hour.  Ten times my mean usage.

This year, so far, at 3AM, traditional and low carbon generation has been pretty equal.

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by SteamyTea

[MikeSharp01]

7 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

0.000001

That's a millionth or do you mean % in which case 100 millionth of the capacity, which feels like a better share given there are 60 million of us on this island (and its ancillary territories).

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, MikeSharp01 said:

That's a millionth or do you mean % in which case 100 millionth of the capacity, which feels like a better share given there are 60 million of us on this island (and its ancillary territories).

Yes, I use 100 millionths of the nations electricity.

 

And I want to use less, and at times of most RE generation.

 

If I used the same amount to charge an EV, I would probably get about 40 miles of travel from it, not far off half what I do in a day at the moment.

According the the RAC, in 2019 the UK sold 30 billion litres of road transport diesel.  So taking my 2,270 litres a year, that would be 0.0000075667% of the nations supply. Round that up and it is, oddly, about the same 100 millionth again.

So my conscience is pretty clear, even if I do drive, on average, 70 miles a day (the downside of living in Cornwall, everything is miles away).

 

Interesting that the sale of gasoline has decreased while diesel has stabilised since the VW cheating, and we are lead to believe that no one buys diesels anymore.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by SteamyTea

[SteamyTea]

Got around to reading @DamonHD's bit, the interesting bit was the https://carbonintensity.org.uk/ new regional map.

I am in a region that is currently producing power at 55g/kWh, even lower than Scotland's 141g/kWh

Damon is in a region that is currently producing 308g/kWh.

Nearly 6 times greater.

 

Going to have a deeper bath and drive out for a coffee as I feel very virtuous now knowing that I am not a grubby bugger.

[dpmiller]

that's another one of those UK sites that's only GB then?

[SteamyTea]

25 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

that's another one of those UK sites that's only GB then?

Which way did your province vote in the referendum.

I feel I should fully embrace our separation, but then my household emissions will go up.

And that is more important to me that sovereignty.

[SteamyTea]

Look at this, half my electricity is coming from the sun, and it is not a clear day today.

[DamonHD]

7 hours ago, dpmiller said:

that's another one of those UK sites that's only GB then?

Because National Grid looks after the GB grid.  NI is managed as part of the all-Ireland grid.

 

Rgds

 

Damon

[DamonHD]

18 hours ago, ProDave said:

Yes overly complicated,

 

Why not just have one "green" dial on something like gridwatch, so you just have to look at a web page (no app, no sign up, no registering) to see how green the grid is at that instant?

Because this is intended NOT to need a computer running and screen on, eg to give a hint when thinking of turning the oven on, etc.

 

Rgds

 

Damon

[DamonHD]

18 hours ago, Roundtuit said:

A great initiative.  Just one thought, from someone without the benefit of 'normal' colour perception (and there are more of us than you might think!) is that lights tinged red and green wouldn't get a place in the house.

Yes, so this could be customised to get round that.

 

For example, I also dim the light somwhat when on red.

 

Rgds

 

Damon

[SteamyTea]

4 hours ago, DamonHD said:

Because this is intended NOT to need a computer running and screen on

Need a router permanently running though.  So 5W or so.

My router is my phone hot spot, fine for people that live alone like me.

[DamonHD]

On 19/05/2021 at 21:29, SteamyTea said:

Need a router permanently running though.  So 5W or so.

My router is my phone hot spot, fine for people that live alone like me.

1) This is about the *user* of the system not needing to use a computer interface (eg on a phone) to be aware of status.

2) I could run this entirely through the WiFi on my RPi3 which is entirely off-grid: the router sometime is.

3) The router stays on anyway since I serve my main sites and services (DNS, mail, etc) from home rather than a data centre.  It is partially off grid, but is nearer 10W as I measure it right now!

Rgds

Damon

[SteamyTea]

7 minutes ago, DamonHD said:

but is nearer 10W as I measure it right now!

About what I am using at the moment.  1, 3W light bulb and my my laptop (mean usage 8W when in use).

 

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, but I think just going to low carbon generation is the real answer.

Look at this and weep.

Nearly 4 times worse.

But none of us would have deliver a decade ago that even 100g/kWh would have been possible in 2021.

 

But what we going to do with the dirty Welch.

 

 

[Hobbiniho]

Just had a look on that website, seems interesting comparing regions, although i do wonder what the figures would be like here in shetland

[DamonHD]

1 hour ago, Hobbiniho said:

Just had a look on that website, seems interesting comparing regions, although i do wonder what the figures would be like here in shetland

I don't know what the fuel mix is now, but https://www.vikingenergy.co.uk/the-project and https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/shetland-interconnector/ would move the needle rather significantly!

 

Rgds

 

Damon

Edited May 22, 2021 by DamonHD