Government to go "further and faster" in becoming energy secure
www.gov.uk
The Energy Secretary outlines measures to protect consumers and make Britain energy secure.

The original (very generic) title):

Government to go “further and faster” in becoming energy secure

The Energy Secretary outlines measures to protect consumers and make Britain energy secure.

They are speaking of panels in the 800W range which you can just buy , mount in front of your balcony or on top of your carport, and plug into a wall socket.

These things are wildly popular in Germany. The do not generate a lot of power, but armotize in about three years and save real money. (Depending on how old the metering technology is, they can also make the power meter spin backwards, which I think is only fair considering how much households pay for kWh, compared to energy-hungry companies, which get most of the the massive cost savings from renewables but don’t pay for the necessary upgrade of the grid).

  • Tim@lemmy.snowgoons.roEnglish
    8·
    9 hours ago

    That is not why UK plugs have a fuse in them. UK plugs have a fuse in them because the wiring standards date from a time when the UK was trying to save money and copper because of the war, so they allow for the fuse in the breaker panel to be higher rated than the actual wiring in the wall.

    The fuse in the plug is to prevent a broken device, or overloaded power strip, drawing the full current the breaker will allow, causing the in-wall wiring and/or appliance cables to burn.

    It’s a terrible design. [ETA: Ringmains/UK domestic electrical distribution are a terrible design, I mean. The BS1363 plug/socket is a nice design driven by compensating for that.]

    • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      9 hours ago

      The UK plug is one of the best around. It’s only downside is that it’s chunky. By putting the fuse in the plug, the protection can be customised to what is attached.

      It also is designed to be almost impossible to fall out of a wall socket. As well as mandating the pin connection order and safety shielding. The sockets are also gated, stopping children sticking stuff into them.

      Even internally they are well designed. The live wire is the weakest link. If pulled, that will tend to fail first. It will, however be held internally by the neutral and earth wires. The earth will be the last to fail.

      The side entry also means that the plug locks into place when the cable is pulled. If the plug or socket fails catastrophically, the earth pin will be the last to pull loose.

      • Vincent@feddit.nlEnglish
        4·
        8 hours ago

        It’s only downside is that it’s chunky.

        Nuh-uh - it can land pointy-side up, that’s a big downside for someone as clumsy as I am.

        • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          8 hours ago

          I would call that a feature! It means we can use them as caltrops if the French ever invade!

          /s

    • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      10 hours ago

      Based on my electrical engineering course the UK has one of the weirdest wiring standards in the world, having some of the shittiest baseline wiring and subsiquently trying to make up for it with some of the most stringent regulations around protection devices such as RCDs and additional fuses.

      • Tim@lemmy.snowgoons.roEnglish
        3·
        9 hours ago

        They are also weirdly patriotic about their plugs. Suggesting that BS1363 was driven by necessity of poor wiring standards rather than being a gift from God to her chosen people is tantamount to standing in the street and pissing on the Union Jack.

        (Source: Am British. Well, was. BS1363 plugs are very nice. But honestly, Schuko is fine as well. They’re just plugs.)

      • Tim@lemmy.snowgoons.roEnglish
        3·
        8 hours ago

        Easier, but more expensive. The driver for the ringmain system was to save money (& copper) by using less & cheaper cable in the walls than an equivalent radial layout (as used everywhere else in the world.) It has half as many fuses and uses less wire than radials, with the only downsides being risk of fire and some horrible undetectable failure modes - what’s not to love?

        (e.g. Undetectable failure: if there is a break in the cable in the wall (bad DIY, say,) everything still works - because although you broke the ring, the other end of each half is still connected, and all your appliances still work. So now you have two 24A radials in your walls, connected to a 32A breaker, and nothing stopping one of those cables being overloaded (if the break is nearer one end than the middle, it’s practically guaranteed that the longer half is overloaded.) Horrible design.)