E L E C T R I C I T Y

[Rove]

Do we need electricity ? Can you live without it ?

As we all know, electricity is becoming a very expensive commodity
Over here in Australia it is getting very expensive and from early next year it's gonna be much higher.

I believe its is the same in UK. Cannot say how it is over in Canada and USA.

So, how badly do we need it.

Even if you use a small amount or try to be economical, the price of just having the supply plus cost of the meter is even higher then the heat and light that you use.

Way back in the 1930s - 1940s my parents never had electicity in the five (5) houses that we lived in.

Of course we had no fridge and no electrical appliances at all. We had Rediffusion (non electric)
We had no heaters for winter and no hot water. Yet we managed and survived.

These days we have these:

Microwave.................. can do without
Ducted heater..............can do without
Outside lights ........... .can do without
Air cond ....................can do without
Freezer ......................can do without
Sensor light................can do without
Burglar alarm..............can do without
Toaster .....................can do without
Kettle ........................can do without
Radio ........................use batteries


Washing Machine ......needed
Oven .......................needed
Room lights .............needed
Sewing machines ......needed
Battery charger .........needed
Printer .....................needed
Fridge ......................needed
Vac cleaner ..............needed
Fan .........................needed
Computer ................needed
TV...........................needed
Drills & work tools.....needed

----------------
While asleep you need

Fridge
small night light

So, what do you think ??

-----

[v.wells]

Rove, Where we live in rural Alberta, we do not have a choice of suppliers of electricity! Even if we use $40 worth a month, the bill which includes all kinds of user fees, transmission, rider ect., fees, the additional cost is well over $150.00! It's quite outrageous really. Now the cost of natural gas which is the preferred forced air heating (furnaces) the cost is about $28 - $40 with a user fee of only $24. As the new year approaches we will again be faced with big bills for heat and energy because the price fluctuates on a seasonal basis and it is ALWAYS colder here from January thru to March/April.

Because we live on an acreage, we need electricity for the well and septic systems and yard lights. We also use electricity in the hen house. But I do agree that there is much that we could probably do without. We use satellite for the TV and internet and plan on trying solar systems and alternate power sources in the future - at least when the darn costs come down to a reasonable level!

[terrysfamily]

My neighbours and I have a great landlords. They have had the walls cavity insulated, the loft has 14 inches of insulation and all the radiators have thermostats on them. But… only single glazing…. Ah well can’t have everything.

They have, this year has had solar panels fitted on our houses. This was done back in August. I was at work during the days that it was fitted so wasn’t shown how it works. Got home on the final day to find 12 panels on each roof, it takes up nearly the complete south side of the roof.

I have some free electric during any daylight hours that I am at home. It also runs the fridge and freezer when I’m not here and using it. I have been told that having the washing machine on a timer (to come on only during the day) would save me money. Not so with my washer. Unless there is power going to my machine when the start button is pressed it doesn’t come on. Sooo, buying those timer sockets was a waste of money.

The landlord gets the money for the electric that is fed back to the grid.

In November, my landlord called me for the reading of units fed back to the grid….. That is when we found out that it hadn’t been working. They have had it fixed now.

On bright days during the winter, I get some free electric but having the gas central heating on takes all of that and more as power is needed for the pump.

There is no way that you could have 2 power hungry appliances on at the same time, kettle + washer, plus the usual, Fridge and freezer and expect to get it all covered by the panels (even with the 12 panels I have). Maybe during the summer it will produce more, I’ll have to wait and see.

One small problem, which has come to light only in the last couple of days. If it snows, it settles on the panels and then freezes during the night. If it turns out to be sunny the next day, it melts a little and comes sliding off the roof in frozen sheets. I wouldn’t like to be standing under one when it hits.

[DorothySandra]

Renewable sources for power - Solar, wind, water, even hand-wound or pedal power - are the future, I think, but the strange British system seems mainly to be used by Landlords trying to wring yet more profit out of their rental properties.

I got very excited about the solar plane staying aloft, and I follow the Solar Car Race. In the UK we have more Wind and Tide than Sunlight, so perhaps we should look at different methods.

Whichever is appropriate to each region, I would like to see research and development into self-generated power for every building, rather than depending on big corporations to provide all their power at enormous expense. Then each household could experiment with different forms - a solar panel on the greenhouse powering the heating/cooling system; a little windmill on the shed to support the power tools; a pedal machine re-charging the laptop batteries [" There children: an hour on the exercise bike will power the computer games!" ]

I agree it's possible to do without some of the gadgets, but the next generations might not agree!

[Mutley]

We, in Portugal, only have one supplier of electricity and it is very expensive, we do not have natural gas, solar systems are very expensive to install. Not a lot of choice.

We often have power cuts. Poof! It's gone....
then you realise how dependant you are on electricity.

At night it is pitch black (and I mean pitch) and you hunt for the torches (the batteries worked last time, why not now?) I've found the candles but lost the matches!
We have oil lamps, I know there is a battery thing to light them in the drawer, I can't see the drawer?

Try closing your eyes and wandering around the house, the thought of going blind scares me.

We cannot read, watch telly, use the PC or have a hot drink and it gets cold, very quickly.
The only option is bed and I suppose that is what our ancestors did, rose early and retired early.
Their lives revolved around natural light and ours does not.
A different type of day to the one we have now.

[Jonesy]

I don't think anyone "needs" a sewing machine, battery charger, printer, vacuum cleaner, fan, computer, TV or an electric drill!

In fact you could live by candlelight too - it's just what you get used with modern life that's the thing.

At least electricity can be produced so we don't run out of it. Gas and oil on the other hand...

[stepives]

What you need, and what you want is rather subjective.

In a home, you can do without it completely. I depends what you want it for. How did people cope when there was no electricity whatsoever.

Your lifestyle dictates how 'basic' you want to live. The unfortunate thing, is the younger generation(on the whole), has never been without it. They certainly couldn't cope.

Most electrical appliances are labour saving devices........the washing machine is a prime example.


Steve.|cheers|

[DorothySandra]

I don't think anyone "needs" a sewing machine, battery charger, printer, vacuum cleaner, fan, computer, TV or an electric drill!



It's a question of balance, isn't it? Our lives now are geared to using some form of power (have you ever read a book by candlelight? or washed sheets and towels by hand and then tried to dry them? or kept a house clean without a vacuum cleaner?)

Without a power supply much of your life is spent just staying fed, warm and clean. Our standard of living and our life span, are much improved compared with our grandparents, and most of these improvements would not have been possible without a power supply.

But nearly of us could, without hardship, use a lot less.

[Rove]

During 1930s, 1940s my parents had no electricity in the four houses that we rented.

There was electricity in the street but my parents could not afford it. Rent was cheap no landlord was willing to install electricity in their properties. The only item of luxury was the Rediffusion set.

In 1949 when my sister got married and of course the reception was at our house we ran a cable from our neighbour and lit up a couple of rooms. Boy, that was luxury.

In the evenings we used to sit around the large dining table and read books from the Library by the kerosene lamp.

On very hot days we opened all doors and windows and at night we slept on a linen sheet on the floor.

No one ever complained.

[Heather Barford]

What an interesting story, we lived in a house in Western Australia once where they put the panels on the wrong side of the roof so they were useless, maybe the plan was to have a cold shower on a hot day. Another time we lived up in the Snowy Mountains of Australia where the power was produced we got it off the grid on its way back terribly expensive, slow and weak it was more efficient to light an old wood stove no matter what the temperature was like.

Here in NZ we seem to have had various schemes where you pay to have gas appliances added to your household to save on the cost of electricity in 10 years time you have paid them off and the price of gas has risen so much it would be cheaper to have an all electric home however when there is a power cut or repairs being done in the area we are the ones wearing the big smile.

At one time people here got paid for putting power back into the grid but now they get nothing for that plus a charge when they don't use mains electricity so it is a win win situation for someone but not the consumer. All those extra add ons to the utility accounts I wonder if they pay a man to spend the day trying to think of ways to squeeze more money to the top, long ago I gave up believing in the trickle down effect it is the spout up to the top or the upside down triangle.

[Heather Barford]

Dont believe everything you are told the petrol companies were sending films around to my uncles engineering workshop in the early 1960's telling and showing us that by 1980 no fossil fuels would be left.

[Zen Rabbit]

When I was in Nepal in the early 90's we only had it intermitently. Load shedding was the norm in Kathmandu but out in the hills it was generator or nowt. We still had torches and batteries so we still had electricity of a sort and computers were not quite as vital back then. The usual routine was to sit up for a few hours after sunset chatting by candle light and then go to bed. No washing machine (local stream), oven was wood fired, candles or torches, things were sewn by hand, batteries were bought in though, no printer, no fridge (most food was fresh though), sweeping brush, a fan would have been great in the summer though (still cooler than down on the plains), no computer, no TV, all tools hand operated. No phone either you had to send a messanger to the nearest radio station about 3 miles away. The only thing I had a problem with was balancing on two bamboo poles over a thousand foot drop which served as the toilet!

[Waitabit]

Do we need electricity ? Can you live without it ?

As we all know, electricity is becoming a very expensive commodity
Over here in Australia it is getting very expensive and from early next year it's gonna be much higher.

I believe its is the same in UK. Cannot say how it is over in Canada and USA.

So, how badly do we need it.

Even if you use a small amount or try to be economical, the price of just having the supply plus cost of the meter is even higher then the heat and light that you use.

Way back in the 1930s - 1940s my parents never had electicity in the five (5) houses that we lived in.

Of course we had no fridge and no electrical appliances at all. We had Rediffusion (non electric)
We had no heaters for winter and no hot water. Yet we managed and survived.

These days we have these:

Microwave.................. can do without -a What?
Ducted heater..............can do without -a What?
Outside lights ........... .can do without - a what? Hurricane lamp - kerosine.
Air cond ....................can do without - a what? we have windows
Freezer ......................can do without- a what/
Sensor light................can do without -A WHAT? WE HAVE DOGS.
Burglar alarm..............can do without - A WHAT/ we have the same dogs.
Toaster .....................can do without,- wood stove. problem solved
Kettle ........................can do without,- wood stove, water fountain on top, all day hot water.
Radio ........................use batteries. - neighbours.


Washing Machine ......needed.- why?,..copper for boiling wash tub & board.
Oven .......................needed - comes with wood stove.
Room lights .............needed Kerosine lamp
Sewing machines ......needed- peddal harder
Battery charger .........needed- huh?
Printer .....................needed- cursive if writing letters please.
Fridge ......................needed -kerosine operated.
Vac cleaner ..............needed - what's a vac?
Fan .........................needed - wave whatever
Computer ................needed- hah! let's pretend we'r back in the 1950s huh?
TV...........................needed - why ?
Drills & work tools.....needed brace & bit etc......

----------------
While asleep you need those explained above.

Fridge
small night light

So, what do you think ?? -----
too much thinking I think!!!!!

[Rove]

Hi Waitabit

Have these replies been handed to you by your great grandfather or from Captain Cook's diary ?

[Waitabit]

I'm country stock Rove, with a good memory. wish I'd come upon my Gt.Grandfather tho'. I HAVE QUESTIONS!
Oh & ironing was fun with flat irons heated on stove. Once tried one filled with coals, darn heavy. Made a beaut doorstop.

[Rove]

Those irons would be worth a good few bob at the scrapyard or as antiques. Also useful for a bit of bush panel beating.

And we forgot the phone. It does use some electricity, I suppose smoke signals can replace the phone.

[Heather Barford]

Yes we often lived in places in outback Australia where there was no electricity. Some times for as long as two years at a time, that last place had water to the front of the section so we were able to put several lengths of hose onto a tap, by the time it reached our makeshift shower the water was really warm, chemical toilet but I think long drops are a lot better, you don't have the cost of chemicals and the problem of emptying them.

Another place we lived was on the banks of a river, all you had to do was put a big stone on your clothes in the water and nature washed them, then throw them over a bush to dry but everything is suppose to be drip dry anyway and you can still buy kerosene, irons and fridges, but a shady spot in the river is great to cool your beer and coke. If you want to use a sewing machine you can have them converted to treadle and exercise as you sew. I have even seen people watching TV by using an exercise cycle converted. However without TV (mostly repeats anyway) we had a lot more time available to do other things and spend time with the kids. Actually those days were really paradise lost, I wouldn't mind living that lifestyle again.

A place I lived in as a child we didn't even have glass windows, everything corrugated iron, push out shutters, it was really nice and cool the house being high up on wooden poles. For entertainment at night we could watch the carpet snakes crawling over the rafters and the little green frogs and skinks crawling up the wall, bet matches on whose frog would get up the wall first. IT was a bit annoying the elephant beetles and the brightly colored beetles when they got caught in your hair, and moths committing suicide in the tilly lamp made such a mess. But we had technology a radio to listen to the news and serials on, once a fortnight we would go in to the town by the rail motor that would stop to pick us up by the railway track. We could take our two car batteries in to be charges,buy comics, eat iceblocks and go to the pictures. Kids never have it so good now as we did, even walking ten miles to school was an adventure plenty to eat on the way, mangoes, quandongs, guavas and bananas, pineapples, oranges,monsterio delcio, pawpaws, granadilos, soursups, and custard apples growing at home. No vitamin deficiency in our household. Now I come to think of it with chooks, ducks, cows, goats, horses and fish from the creek our household must have been pretty self sufficent in those days. No wonder they talk about the good old days. This is scary I am almost converting myself into a greeny I better watch out! Memories can be catching.