Miscellany
Nothing new under the sun...
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Retired energy engineer Doug Willis from Gloucestershire has donated some fascinating memorabilia
(left) in the form of fifty Fuel Efficiency Bulletins issued by the Ministry of
Fuel and Power between 1943 and 1951. Top of the pictured pile is one one combined power and heating
(since rebranded and combined heat and power) from 1945. But that isn't the oldest document in my
possession on the subject: some years ago I acquired a commemorative booklet with the unpromising
title The main drainage of West Middlesex, published by Middlesex County Council to
mark the opening of a massive sewage treatment works at Mogden in West London in 1936. Inside is
a diagram of the works's powerhouse, whose generators were powered by engines running on methane
from sewage sludge digesters, with process heat recovered from the engine.
V.V. 21 Sep 06 |
True or false?
If you are leaving the room for less than ten minutes, it's cheaper to leave the fluorescent lights on... find out, feeding in your own assumptions about the size and duration of the startup surge. (V.V. 6 Jan 06)
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What the...?I have been rummaging in the cellar and found some historical curiosities relating to degree-day measurement - V.V., 6/9/05 |