Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 4]

[shirt]

current [budumtish] demand on the french grid [net of imports and exports] is 65.57GW. GB is 39.96GW

transmissions losses are usually 5-8% for a well maintained grid so we can assume similar losses for each and neglect them, so france is consuming 64% more electricity than GB at this moment in time.

for the latest info i can find, gas consumption for france is 4.133 billion cubic ft/day vs 7.663 for GB, 85% more .

its worth noting that 33.46% of the GB grid demand above is gas fired vs 7.77% for france.

going by what i have to hand [i.e. may be wildly innacurate as i'm a spanner monkey and believe electricity is made by pixies], 0.168 billion cubic feet = 1GW. so more rough maths sees 0.84 BCF/day of france's gas use converted to electrickery, and the same for 2.25 of team GB's.

so, net of how it is generated and distributed:

france = 65.57 GW electricity and 3.293 BCF of gas on a typical wintry day
gb = 39.96 GW and 5.413 BCF

france consumes 64% more lekky, GB 64% more gas

conclusion - haven't got a clue

NB - i would assume or at least hope that any EU subsidised farmer worth his oignons is generating his own biogas and selling the excess to grid, thus raking in more subsidies. Seems the french steel industry is just as good as ours, so wonder what the industry balance is like. their car industry is better for sure, but how many do overseas companies build in GB? etc.

[fomb]

The French make far heavier use of electricity than we do because as a society they make heavier use of electric heating and cooking. This came about largely as a result of the 1973 oil crisis. Also, the Messmer Plan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Fra...

[Flibble]

shirt said:

so, net of how it is generated and distributed:

france = 65.57 GW electricity and 3.293 BCF of gas on a typical wintry day
gb = 39.96 GW and 5.413 BCF

france consumes 64% more lekky, GB 64% more gas

conclusion - haven't got a clue

Convert it all to GW (at a rate of 1bcf/day = 12.21 GW) to compare overall energy use might be more useful:

France = 65.57GWe + 40.21GWg = 105.78GW
GB = 39.96GWe + 66.10GWg = 106.06GW

Conclusion, energy usage is broadly similar across the two countries.

[neelyp]

BigBen said:

I think France has more Chemical industry which uses a st load of electricity, a big chemical plant can use a hell of a lot (I am pretty sure a lady from ICI told us their plant in Runcorn used 5% of UK electricity! )

Most large chemical plants generate their own electricity.

[Truckosaurus]

Dr Jekyll said:

Historically it was because a lot of the live audience wanted to gamble. Both on the match so they liked Vegas, and on other things before and after so Vegas liked boxing.

Isn't the middle of the night timing because the largest market for the PPV is still the USA.

I assume that MGM are able to pay to host the fight as they make money on the ticket sales plus can use it to bring rich people into town to spend money with them gambling and buying overpriced champagne in their nightclubs.

[Exige77]

Truckosaurus said:

Dr Jekyll said:

Historically it was because a lot of the live audience wanted to gamble. Both on the match so they liked Vegas, and on other things before and after so Vegas liked boxing.

Isn't the middle of the night timing because the largest market for the PPV is still the USA.

I assume that MGM are able to pay to host the fight as they make money on the ticket sales plus can use it to bring rich people into town to spend money with them gambling and buying overpriced champagne in their nightclubs.

It’s only the middle of the night for us.

Right time locally.

[SpeckledJim]

Exige77 said:

Truckosaurus said:

Dr Jekyll said:

Historically it was because a lot of the live audience wanted to gamble. Both on the match so they liked Vegas, and on other things before and after so Vegas liked boxing.

Isn't the middle of the night timing because the largest market for the PPV is still the USA.

I assume that MGM are able to pay to host the fight as they make money on the ticket sales plus can use it to bring rich people into town to spend money with them gambling and buying overpriced champagne in their nightclubs.

It’s only the middle of the night for us.

Right time locally.

witchcraft

[MartG]

neelyp said:

BigBen said:

I think France has more Chemical industry which uses a st load of electricity, a big chemical plant can use a hell of a lot (I am pretty sure a lady from ICI told us their plant in Runcorn used 5% of UK electricity! )

Most large chemical plants generate their own electricity.

Even if they do, it still counts as part of the electricity generated in that country

[glazbagun]

When during battle a side "gives no quarter", what is this "quarter" they aren't giving? Are some adversaries given a quarter?

[V8mate]

glazbagun said:

When during battle a side "gives no quarter", what is this "quarter" they aren't giving? Are some adversaries given a quarter?

If you take enemy prisoner, you give them quarter (troops assemble in quarters).

So if you give no quarter, you behave without the mercy of taking them prisoner.

[Dr Jekyll]

glazbagun said:

When during battle a side "gives no quarter", what is this "quarter" they aren't giving? Are some adversaries given a quarter?

From what I was told the phrase was originally 'no quarters'. IE No accommodation provided for prisoners, so by implication no prisoners would be taken.

[Hugo a Gogo]

it's a bit of a 'nobody knows' one, that

why is accommodation called 'quarters'?

what about fighting at 'close quarters'?

[jonwm]

shirt said:

borcy said:

glazbagun said:

borcy said:

I sometimes look at gridwatch and on there is the uk and french electricity figures. France has roughly the same population than us yet seem to need to generate much larger amounts of electricity?

https://gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

Are they consuming it or selling it to other nations? A lot of their power is nuclear so can't turn on/off like a gas plant can and they have a lot of land borders, so potential customers for their nuclear energy.

They do sell alot to other countries, but still it's alot more than here in the uk something like 20 odd GWs.

The average consumption per capita is about 1,800kwh higher in France vs UK. That’s before any exports.

I'm led to believe that mainland Europe use electricity to heat and cool. Aircon is the preferred method, was in a meeting last month and it was suggested the UK would be going that way, the Europeans apparently think we are crazy having a gas line going onto out homes

[StevieBee]

Hugo a Gogo said:

why is accommodation called 'quarters'?

Isn't that a navy thing?....where senior officer's accommodation was a floor at the raised part of the ship at the back divided into quarters; the quartermaster being the person who looked after the rooms and fixed things.

[Frank7]

StevieBee said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

why is accommodation called 'quarters'?

Isn't that a navy thing?....where senior officer's accommodation was a floor at the raised part of the ship at the back divided into quarters; the quartermaster being the person who looked after the rooms and fixed things.

Sounds sensible, absent any better informed input I’ll accept that.

[Big-Bo-Beep]

it can also mean mercy or pity , as in " to give no quarter ".

it also means the limbs of an animal [ hind quarters ] , which explains a very old, and very filthy Ken Williams
gag in a sketch in Round the Horne which the writers slipped past the BBC censor.

[Hugo a Gogo]

jonwm said:

shirt said:

borcy said:

glazbagun said:

borcy said:

I sometimes look at gridwatch and on there is the uk and french electricity figures. France has roughly the same population than us yet seem to need to generate much larger amounts of electricity?

https://gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

Are they consuming it or selling it to other nations? A lot of their power is nuclear so can't turn on/off like a gas plant can and they have a lot of land borders, so potential customers for their nuclear energy.

They do sell alot to other countries, but still it's alot more than here in the uk something like 20 odd GWs.

The average consumption per capita is about 1,800kwh higher in France vs UK. That’s before any exports.

I'm led to believe that mainland Europe use electricity to heat and cool. Aircon is the preferred method, was in a meeting last month and it was suggested the UK would be going that way, the Europeans apparently think we are crazy having a gas line going onto out homes

I don't know about everyone else, but 50% of German homes have gas-powered heating. Gas cookers are still quite rare though

[Rostfritt]

MartG said:

neelyp said:

BigBen said:

I think France has more Chemical industry which uses a st load of electricity, a big chemical plant can use a hell of a lot (I am pretty sure a lady from ICI told us their plant in Runcorn used 5% of UK electricity! )

Most large chemical plants generate their own electricity.

Even if they do, it still counts as part of the electricity generated in that country

That does sound quite a lot. I just looked and that is a huge site, but 5% would be the same as half of London. I heard that aluminium smelters use a huge amount and can be paid extra to lower consumption during peak times (demand smoothing) but I have no idea what processes they are using.

If they did have their own generators, which would make sense if they also need a lot of heat, would that be shown as demand on gridwatch? I thought their source would be power being put into the grid, with some assumptions about generation from domestic solar that might be part used in the home.

[Flibble]

Rostfritt said:

MartG said:

neelyp said:

BigBen said:

I think France has more Chemical industry which uses a st load of electricity, a big chemical plant can use a hell of a lot (I am pretty sure a lady from ICI told us their plant in Runcorn used 5% of UK electricity! )

Most large chemical plants generate their own electricity.

Even if they do, it still counts as part of the electricity generated in that country

That does sound quite a lot. I just looked and that is a huge site, but 5% would be the same as half of London. I heard that aluminium smelters use a huge amount and can be paid extra to lower consumption during peak times (demand smoothing) but I have no idea what processes they are using.

If they did have their own generators, which would make sense if they also need a lot of heat, would that be shown as demand on gridwatch? I thought their source would be power being put into the grid, with some assumptions about generation from domestic solar that might be part used in the home.

The Runcorn chemical works doesn't generate its own power as such, but it is sited adjacent to a power station.
This one in fact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksavage_Power_Sta...
300MW for the chemical works, the rest sold into the grid. That makes it about 0.6-1% of current grid power usage, not 5%.

Also, yes aluminium smelters use a lot for their induction furnaces. There is (was?) a big one near Holyhead adjacent to Wylfa power station for similar reasons.

[BigBen]

Flibble said:

The Runcorn chemical works doesn't generate its own power as such, but it is sited adjacent to a power station.
This one in fact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksavage_Power_Sta...
300MW for the chemical works, the rest sold into the grid. That makes it about 0.6-1% of current grid power usage, not 5%.

Also, yes aluminium smelters use a lot for their induction furnaces. There is (was?) a big one near Holyhead adjacent to Wylfa power station for similar reasons.

Damn it the come and be an engineer in Runcorn lady lied to us credulous undergrads! That said she could have claimed 5% at times, which it could be if it runs overnight or something!

Still a sh*t load of electricity