Socket tells you if your energy is green - To good to be true?

I first if all checked that it wasn’t 1st April! What a lot of bunkum.

I’m waiting for my roast chicken to cook, the light goes from green to red, am I really going to switch off the oven?

Going forward, I’m charging my EV overnight, shall I get out of bed and stop charging at 3am because the wind has stopped and a coal-fired power station has been bought on line? I don’t think so.
 
eveares said:
But can a socket detect (or any device connected to the mains alone without any sort of Wi-Fi/internet connection) if the national grid is running more on renewable vs non-renewable sources?
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They use the Internet to report in to work out what colour LED to display.

They will not be cheap and will take a long time to pay for themselves. Idea is the light deters you from plugging in, that's manual intervention, until it's powered on renewable and if what ever you have left plugged in, goes to standby it cuts the power off completely. The latter will save a bit if standby is an appreciable load, but nothing if standby is around 1watt, because the device itself will consume that much anyway - so worse that pointless in those circumstances.

Reminds me of a large company with lots of offices, filled with lots of tech., that were advised by an energy specialist to install plug in timers on all their PC's and printers, so they switched off during the unoccupied times. Great in principle, but standby used less than the clocks and every time there was a power cut, there was chaos the next day when the time clocks stopped them using the equipment. Then to add to the problems, staff would sometimes work late, or go in early to work.
 
It doesn't matter.

I get my electricity from a supplier who only buys electricity from renewable sources.
 
Tbh, I think it is a bit of a gimmick that won't take on. Who's not going to boil their kettle because the light is red at night when renewable sources overall will be at their lowest output.

As for cutting off standby power, what happens when the devices total power is lower than the standby cutoff threshold - same problem that plagues some USB power banks when used with very low power USB devices.
 
eveares said:
As for cutting off standby power, what happens when the devices total power is lower than the standby cutoff threshold - same problem that plagues some USB power banks when used with very low power USB devices.
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The sales blurb mentions a ridiculous standby power for one backup copy machine of almost 200w, to justify a need for the device. I doubt any modern unit would have a standby power more than a watt or two, once it has been unused for a while. Modern equipment of the type makes use of maybe two standby modes, depending on when it was last used.

The mention of the under desk heater being left on was probably the only valid point, but that could be better addressed via a PIR switching the heater off, when no one was present.
 
The 2000 occupant office building could save far more by just removing the 'personal heaters' and using the building heating system instead.
 
EFLImpudence said:
It doesn't matter. I get my electricity from a supplier who only buys electricity from renewable sources.
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Would that be different electricity from that being supplied to someone from a different supplier who did not only buy electricity from renewable sources? :-) .... or does Portugal perhaps not have 'national grid' and/or the same daft "pay who you choose for your electricity from the grid" system that we have in the UK?

Kind Regards, John
 
JohnW2 said:
Would that be different electricity from that being supplied to someone from a different supplier who did not only buy electricity from renewable sources? :)
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According to the blurb.

.... or does Portugal perhaps not have 'national grid' and/or the same daft "pay who you choose for your electricity from the grid" system that we have in the UK?
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Unfortunately it is the same nonsensical system.


Actually, I changed supplier when they said, because it was renewable sources, they charge 25% less than the national supplier. I didn't argue.
Unfortunately, even though from renewable sources, it's about to triple in price the day after my initial contract ends.

Strange that.

I am trying to change back. Serves me right.
 
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