When I was a kid growing up in Yorkshire, wasting electricity was almost criminal. Coming from a place synonymous with frugality, I learned early that every kilowatt-hour was sacred. And fair enough: back in the 1970s, generating each kWh of electricity meant burning roughly a kilogram of coal mined by Arthur Scargill’s finest1.
Fast-forward to today and things couldn’t be more different. Solar and wind have free ‘fuel,’ and we often find ourselves with more electricity from wind and solar than we know what to do with.
Currently Raging Debates: