45 day no coal run about to end

[AE-NMidlands]

Same here. Air con went on yesterday, first time this year. But for heating, managed to avoid GCH for the whole of April, and beginning of May. Perfect match if you have PV too.
And on again today. Weirdly, I usually struggle at 24C, but now OK to 26C(ish), I assume that's because of long covid, but not sure that's a real plus!

I've been hearing this a lot but there is actually another, more usual explanation.
Everyone still alive is getting older. Drink more fluids, stay out of the sun, take things easier.

I met an elderly friend today who is very thin, but still alive and living on borrowed time after several cancers were treated (He said to me "I'm still here - even though they said I would probably be dead 6 monthe ago!")
He said he is loving the heat and can continue working without a problem, while his wife is wiped out by it...

[dan_b]

Meanwhile, old King Coal has disappeared off the grid again after a very short stint. Or should that be stink.

[nowty]

Meanwhile, old King Coal has disappeared off the grid again after a very short stint. Or should that be stink.

I suspect thats due to the Norway link returning to almost full power. Its increased by 600MW which was not far off the generation of the two coal units.

Which debunks the aircon theory as its still hot and the wind / nuclear is still low.

[dan_b]

Yep I agree.
Also I wonder if the Norway HVDC going on the blink was the grid issue that caused Heysham 2 to go offline?
According to EDF that'll be back online tomorrow too, and both Torness generators by end of June.

[Countrypaul]

Looks like someone at the BBC must have been reading this site: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65907342

[Mr Gus]

Was in excess of 30c upstairs 2 nights ago, wrecked wifes sleep & affected her long day shift in charge of an M/Health unit ..bad enough without a heatwave.
Last night "cool" at a bearable 27c (was expecting 32c) so sweet relief. just a fan, should have turned on aircon to drop it a bit..

Suffice to say the piece below is hit & miss but well meant & hopeful (despite banging on about woodburners) .she should have looked at the interconnector situation you guys pointed out...

(doubt she'll amend the piece)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... travagance

[Tinbum]

And on again today. Weirdly, I usually struggle at 24C, but now OK to 26C(ish), I assume that's because of long covid, but not sure that's a real plus!

Long covid's done the opposite to me- heat just zaps me straight away.

The A2A has been an absolute godsend also helped the son with his hay-fever as well. (I used to suffer very badly with that but, thankfully, it just went about 10 years ago.

[Mr Gus]

Yup, a bionaire tower fan with hepa as we had drew about 90 watts, & was not "cooling power"

A non-dessicant dehumidifier running to take the humidity out of the air on a hot night is likely 100w + ..no proper cooling their either.

A decent (pitchable) floor fan 40, 60, 120, 200w rated ..moves warm air well when positioned correctly, still not air con.

If you are running several (or all 3 you may as well run the all in one & reap the benefits of hepa, dehumidification, chilled cool air..

As for years, breathable wool poppered seasonal duvet & a combination of the above, + evening cool air pulled through widow across granite floor & pushed upstairs, a mere 24c up there this morning. ie, a pretty decent nights sleep was achieved.

Adaptive echnique & recognising that you may be drawing enough power as is to warrant a small air conditioner regardless of demonising use for an ill thought paid for piece in the news. (@ that guardian freelancer)

(Writing solutions in an interesting manner is harder than a good moan in print I guess, ..well, it's too hot for common sense I guess)

[AE-NMidlands]

not a bad article from the Beeb (for a change!) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65907342

DUP MP Sammy Wilson has tweeted: "The UK has had to start coal fired generators during this heatwave because the sun is too strong and solar panels have had to be taken offline."

This isn't true.

While it's correct that solar panels are less efficient at hot temperatures, this reduction is relatively small, and was not the main reason for firing up coal power stations.
We spoke to Mr Wilson, who confirmed that the article he had read said that there was a "severe" fall in output, not that the panels had to be taken offline.
According to Solar Energy UK, solar panel performance falls by 0.34 percentage points for every degree that the temperature rises above 25C.
It also said that the longer days and clearer skies mean solar power generates much more electricity during the summer, even if the efficiency falls.
On Monday 12 June, coal power was used for the first time in 46 days, but solar power still generated around one-fifth of the UK's electricity during the middle part of the day.
...

[Moxi]

I do hope Mr Wilson is a little better informed now and kudos to the BBC for a concise and accurate article. That's the trouble with sound bite politics its easy to get it wrong and its easy to get missed amongst all the other tweets and sound bites so "crap" gets accepted as facts by the masses who are less familiar with the subject matter being spoken about.

They really need to take the show biz popularity out of politics and get back to the task of running the country for our benefit rather than trying to win another 4 year place at the big table.

At the same time educate the children at school about politics and social accountability so that they understand the importance of their voice and their vote for the country and feel empowered to listen to political opinions for their facts rather than the current rubbish we get for the most part.

Enough dumbing down lets educate up for a change.

Moxi