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Does anyone have a conversion factor for the new unit of power - the Home

Paul Carlier

The popular media seem to have adopted a new, non-SI unit of power which they call the Home.  Does anyone have a conversion factor to Watts, please?  When a new, renewable power source is being discussed, I would like to know the output in a form I recognise.  Also there is the danger with Cockney speakers of confusing this new unit of power with the SI unit of resistance.

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  • +1

    this is like areas in football fields weights in buses and volumes in swimming pools - sloppy journalistic crap basically...

    Anyone doing a real measurement knows the proper units - just  imagine going to the grocers and asking for 100 micro buses of apples please... or 100 nano olympic pools of beer at the bar - perhaps correct but not helpful,

    Some sources are slightly better with their referencing and use real units and then explain it in houses for the benefit of those "qualified in PPE and classics", as Chris Whitty might have called them....  (well he did in his evidence to the Covid enquiry, as well as a lot of less flattering phrases.)

    Good examples

    "How big is a wind turbine? The average size of onshore turbines being manufactured today is around 2.5-3 MW, with blades of about 50 metres length. It can power more than 1,500 average EU households. An average offshore wind turbine of 3.6 MW can power more than 3,312 average EU households."

    from

    https://www.ewea.org/wind-energy-basics/faq/

    So they are assuming about 1.1 kW of peak generation capacity per EU "house".

    Orstead make different assumption

    Hornsea 2, located in the North Sea next to its sister project Hornsea 1, generates enough green energy to power over 1.4 million UK homes. As the world’s largest offshore wind farm, it covers an area of 462 square kilometres (178 square miles).

    1.32GW Total capacity
    165 8 MW wind turbines
    89km from the Yorkshire coast
    Clearly a UK home is only worth about 900 watts of peak generation.
    Now as offshore wind turbines manage a 30-50% generation factor, those figures probably should be halved or even thirded.

    OFGEM have their own unit for price caps, and that seems to be 3100 kWhr per year, or about (3100/365.24) =  350 watts.

    take your pick.

    Mike.

  • 0 in reply to mapj1

    At an IET lecture years ago, I learned that an onshore wind turbine averages about 1/4 of its peak power, with an offshore turbine averaging about 1/3 of peak. So those figures seem about right.

  • 0 in reply to Simon Barker

    Perhaps something like 300-500 long term average equivalent watts assuming non electric heating and hot water but it is a fair old spread and seems to depend on who is saying it and their agenda. Of course two 15 minute electric showers per day almost uses all of that allowance ;-)

    M.

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  • 0 in reply to Simon Barker

    Perhaps something like 300-500 long term average equivalent watts assuming non electric heating and hot water but it is a fair old spread and seems to depend on who is saying it and their agenda. Of course two 15 minute electric showers per day almost uses all of that allowance ;-)

    M.

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