roydo
in memoriam - 1965-2024
There is/was indeed. It annoyed James Dyson a lot iirc. Something like an EU vacuum had to have something that made it more expensive but less efficient or something.
Current Affairs EU In or Out
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There is/was indeed. It annoyed James Dyson a lot iirc. Something like an EU vacuum had to have something that made it more expensive but less efficient or something.
The Cowboy
Player Valuation: £60m
Shirley Slack? Perhaps she was an attendant on Trump's private jet.
The Cowboy
Player Valuation: £60m
Understandable. A kettle that boils in twice the time still boils. An under-powered toaster still toasts. A weak-ass vacuum cleaner is neither use nor ornament.
Looks like it was true (below from the BBC)
Who, what, why: Does limiting the power of appliances save energy?
Who, What, Why
The Magazine answers the questions behind the news
2 September 2014
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Thinkstock
The European Commission has banned the sale of powerful vacuum cleaners. Now it might do the same for other domestic appliances, but would this actually cut energy consumption?
It started with vacuum cleaners. Then there were howls of outrage when it emerged the European Commission has set up a working group to look at whether other common household appliances - kettles, toasters, bread makers and hairdryers among them - should also be regulated.
The working group is at an early stage and may rule out many of the products. But is the premise correct - does the power of an appliance determine energy consumption? Or by halving the wattage do you simply mean that someone uses it for twice as long?
Take hairdryers. You could use a 1,000-watt hairdryer for a minute or a 500-watt one for two minutes and it would in theory use the same energy. But, says Henry Lau, outreach officer at the Institute of Physics, it's not that simple. You have to look at how efficient hairdryers actually are. "Part of the power is being used to power a heating element, you'll get some energy wasted heating other parts of the hairdryer, not just the air." Design matters - is it better to have faster-blown air, or hotter air?
For vacuum cleaners, better nozzle and filter design means that you can suck up more dust without increasing the power of the motor, says Chrissy McManus, technical manager at the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances. Which? Magazine has made the same point, while noting many of its Best Buys have motor sizes that exceed the new limit of 1,600 watts.
There's no simple relationship between motor power and energy use, says Prof Will Stewart, fellow at the Institute of Engineering and Technology. And a big motor used at low power will use about the same energy as a smaller one doing the same job. But the EU is right to expect better efficiency. He estimates it should take about 2,000 watts of power applied for less than a minute to dry wet hair. Yet most hairdryers take far longer with similar or more powerful motors. The hope must be that manufacturers will do more with less power. But he wonders if regulation is necessary.
Who, what, why: Does limiting the power of appliances save energy?
Who, What, Why
The Magazine answers the questions behind the news
2 September 2014
Share
Image copyright
Thinkstock
The European Commission has banned the sale of powerful vacuum cleaners. Now it might do the same for other domestic appliances, but would this actually cut energy consumption?
It started with vacuum cleaners. Then there were howls of outrage when it emerged the European Commission has set up a working group to look at whether other common household appliances - kettles, toasters, bread makers and hairdryers among them - should also be regulated.
The working group is at an early stage and may rule out many of the products. But is the premise correct - does the power of an appliance determine energy consumption? Or by halving the wattage do you simply mean that someone uses it for twice as long?
Take hairdryers. You could use a 1,000-watt hairdryer for a minute or a 500-watt one for two minutes and it would in theory use the same energy. But, says Henry Lau, outreach officer at the Institute of Physics, it's not that simple. You have to look at how efficient hairdryers actually are. "Part of the power is being used to power a heating element, you'll get some energy wasted heating other parts of the hairdryer, not just the air." Design matters - is it better to have faster-blown air, or hotter air?
For vacuum cleaners, better nozzle and filter design means that you can suck up more dust without increasing the power of the motor, says Chrissy McManus, technical manager at the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances. Which? Magazine has made the same point, while noting many of its Best Buys have motor sizes that exceed the new limit of 1,600 watts.
There's no simple relationship between motor power and energy use, says Prof Will Stewart, fellow at the Institute of Engineering and Technology. And a big motor used at low power will use about the same energy as a smaller one doing the same job. But the EU is right to expect better efficiency. He estimates it should take about 2,000 watts of power applied for less than a minute to dry wet hair. Yet most hairdryers take far longer with similar or more powerful motors. The hope must be that manufacturers will do more with less power. But he wonders if regulation is necessary.
peteblue
Welcome back Wayne
But isn't this the problem with the EU, you just wouldn't know. They seem capable of producing reams of idiocy so it becomes a believable story.......
roydo
in memoriam - 1965-2024
To be fair Pete, we have the capacity to do the exact same thing within our own Civil Service and assorted Quangos.
That said, I for one will not miss EU edicts on lightbulbs.
I can see the sense in some of their edicts but the lightbulb one is madness. They've banned the incandescent ones and left the little spots that most of us now have several of in our ceilings and which together use up more energy than the one's they banned. Idiots! And because it is such a bureaucratic institution there's no hope of getting through to them to correct the matter so you're left with stupidness for hundreds of years!!
roydo
in memoriam - 1965-2024
But we can have our old lightbulbs back now. Buying lightbulbs used to be the easiest bloke job ever. Now it is a bewildering experience that means on several occasions I have had to admit defeat, go home, and pretend to Mrs R that the ones we need were sold out.
The Cowboy
Player Valuation: £60m
Energy saving or not, incandescent light bulbs were so much more nicer.
roydo
in memoriam - 1965-2024
But angrier.
Whistlin' Dixie
Player Valuation: £50m
roydo
in memoriam - 1965-2024
If it's difficult enough for you, then I wonder how @Ashtonian 'd manage?
Didnt think of that, sake, the poor lad.
Probably welding his finger to a socket as we speak.
Gladystweet
Player Valuation: £50m
That's for the honeymoon....
Whistlin' Dixie
Player Valuation: £50m
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