"To permit is to control"
An Engluishman's Castle has spotted a little publicized report linked to Climate Change and reported in The Register. As AEC writes:
"Meanwhile, household access to electricity will be restricted - thanks to smart grids - or taken away completely, with electricity rationed via a completely automated supply. You'll do the laundry when you're told to, not when you want to."
We have known of the ability of Smart meters to regulate the supply of electricity for some time now, however a little known - and of course not publicised - other advantage springs to mind. The ability to 'ration' our electricity supply will ease the problem that the government has with the forthcoming energy provision crisis, the lack of provision capability in years to come - other than the useless and costly windmills.
The govt doesn't just want your money; they want your soul, they want control of your lives, until you are dependent and helpless. Both the last government and the present talk a great deal about freedom - but the only freedom with which they are concerned is theirs - the freedom to control us!
14 comments:
Which is why I'm looking for a small diesel powered generator - diesel because you can legally store larger amounts than petrol, and also use the red sort for power generation if you can get it! Regardless of smart meters, I'm surprised tha we haven't had cuts during the recent cold spell.
To see the electricity demand for the last 24 hours go to :-
http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/Data/Realtime/Demand/demand24.htm
It is a running demand graph.
And to see how it's being generated look here:
http://www.bmreports.com/bsp/bsp_home.htm
Go to the "Generation By Fuel Type (table)" section.
I have heard numerous reports about smart meters being used to restrict domestic energy use, such as the washing machine example above. However to accomplish this would require extensive rewiring of every house to split the loads connected to the meter. The closest we've come to this would be the dual meter/distribution systems used for Economy 7 storage heaters.
Attempts to do it with smart plugs or sockets would be doomed to failure as people would just run extension leads to other points.
There are a few things I would like to 'run through' and it isn't a power lead in my house!
Microdave,
If you wanted to control things with the electricity supply, I would agree with you.
But when you can get the meter that controls the electricity supply to talk to the devices that 'need' to be controlled, then you have... hell.
http://www.theinternetofthings.eu/what-is-the-internet-of-things
Yes, its another EU taxpayer funded people controlling experiment.
Diesel generator = good idea.
I have a small petrol genny for use in power cuts (we get a lot) and it's a marvellous bit of kit with all sorts of unexpected uses. But big and diesel is the way to go.
I can't see any 'smart' system working too well. But they already have the technology to restrict the supply to your house if they wish, and that's effectively the same thing. We cut your power, you don't do the washing until it is your turn. Or read, or ...
@ IanPJ - No RFID chips in our Creda tumble drier, which is now 28 years old and still going strong! I can see a ready market in jamming devices if this idea takes off. The smart meters themselves are apparently going to use the mobile phone network to communicate. The encryption used is not that secure, and it wouldn't be beyond a few hackers to come up with something that could send modified information. Simply blocking the signal with a high power local transmitter would probably do at a pinch, and would have the added benefit of forcing the kids to communicate by speech....
@ Richard - If you wanted to defeat the limited periods when full power was available (and could afford it) just get a combination battery charger/inverter and a large set of batteries. Have it charging during off peak, and then switch to inverter when needed.
This would also give you back up during genuine cuts. They are extensively used in the marine and leisure industries, and can easily supply sufficient power, providing the batteries can cope.
Advanced installations use a Stirling engine to provide heating and DC power for charging.
Similar ideas have been proposed as a way of reducing the peak demand on the grid, which is the claimed reason for introducing smart meters.
@microdave - I'm sure there are many ways round it, if you can afford or be bothered :) Getting enough accumulator capacity to make it realistic would be prohibitively expensive, I would think (and inverters are generally inefficient anyway). My point was really that if rationing comes in, it needn't be anything 'smart' - just a matter of disconnecting you when it's your 'turn'. For me, I will stick with my 2kw Honda, which does everything I need.
Using Smart Meters to limit or ration our supply makes sense. The whole scheme was always far too sophisticated just to "help us" by showing how much and when we are using leccy which is either obvious or detailed in our bills which they will read annyway.
@ Richard - I worked in the marine industry for a time, and the batteries required are indeed LARGE! However modern chargers & inverters are 90-95% efficient.
I also have a small petrol genny, the problem I can foresee is the difficulty of obtaining petrol and the cost. Having a diesel would be a better bet as these can be run on various types of oil, as many folk are doing with (older) cars.
Sure, diesel is the way to go. CH oil, chip fat, red diesel - even normal diesel at a pinch! My petrol genny is only a fill-in for emergencies. If I were to go for the full survivalist kit, it would be a unit that needed its own shed and separate concrete foundations. Come and get me, copper.
My thanks to all above for your comments - interesting input, for certain.
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