David Nebenzahl wrote:

On 6/1/2008 1:43 PM Rod Speed spake thus:

David Nebenzahl wrote

Rod Speed wrote

Bill wrote


The clock on my range has never kept correct time, yet it keeps
running and using electricity. (Small amount, but many little
things like this can add up.)


No they cant.


Yes, they can, and do.


Nope, not with an electric range where the time you have one of the
plates on for has a MUCH more important effect on the electricity used.


The fact that the burners use a lot more electricity doesn't change the
fact that things like clocks, wall warts, etc., still use small amounts
of electricity, and when added together constitute a significant
fraction of energy usage.

The point is that if the clock isn't serving any useful purpose, then
disconnecting it to save electricity (an admittedly small amount, but
see above) is a good thing to do.



Has anyone thought about how much wasted electricity we'd be saving now
if the utilities could have forseen the eventual spike in energy cost
and used heavier conductors for their runs?

I'd expect that the added cost of the copper or aluminum needed to
reduce resistive losses in all those distribution wires by making them
thicker would get paid off pretty fast at today's fuel costs.

(It's a good thing Edison didn't win out, or we'd still be distributing
electricity at 110 volts DC throughout our power systems, with even
greater transmission losses. G)

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.