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NStar arrogance
By adamg on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 9:54am
The Outraged Liberal is so enjoying recent NStar "service upgrades" in his neighborhood:
... Ever since the program started (or at least since we learned about it in February) I've been running around the house resetting the clocks on a regular basis (and you know how much fun that is!) We've had more power failures in the last two two weeks than in the previous five years. ...
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Comments
Give the environment a break
Give the environment a break and power down your electrical clocks, do you really need them? Buy a few wall mounted battery ones instead, and you'll never even notice NStar were there...
Going green
I'm pretty sure "going green" doesn't include increasing use of battery-operated devices. Batteries are made out of materials that are considered toxic waste.
Your comment make me interested in learning what fuels are used to generate our electricity here in the hub.
Use rechargeable batteries?
That might be the best answer, though rechargeables are usually for high-energy-drain things like cellphones and bicycle lights, not low-use things like clocks.
Get A Sundial
Or a water clock. Or a series of hourglasses, each one tripped by the emptying of the contents of the previous one. Or you could be like me and just ask somebody what time it is. That way, you get a clear conscience concerning how green you're keeping everything, even though you're using a big energy-consuming computer to write vapid comments.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Clepsydra
One of my favorite words. I want to retire to North Tonawanda and install a clepsydra.
Ooooooh!
Very good! I had to actually go look that one up! I can't wait to use it on someone else...
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Since When?
I use rechargeable AA batteries in my wall clocks and have for the last year or so. I can't recall the last time I had to swap them out. Is there some rule that says they're only for high use/heavy draining equipment?
And yes, because I am absurdly attached to analog clocks I have a few around the house - power failures be damned!
rechargeable AA batteries
I used rechargeable alkaline AA batteries for this purpose until Ray-O-Vac stopped making them. My impression (maybe a wrong one?) was that the newer NiMH rechargeables were for heavy-use devices such as cameras.
Nope
...they work just fine in low-drain devices. I think my thermostat lasted almost a full year on a set of very old NiMH batteries. I also use them in a power meter (spiffy thing that clips onto the electric meter and tells you how much juice you're using, live.)
CVS sells 2500AHr AAs, which have more (I think) juice than a normal D-cell, and you can in fact get these nifty cheap cases that snap around a AA and turn it into a D.
They're *great* for camera flashes, and I recommended them to a friend who got one of those battery-powered kid swings (takes D's, works fine on AA's, and they recharge faster than the kid does.)
AA's are not as great an idea as they sound in digital cameras- the energy density for LiIon is much higher than NiMH.
Also, rechargeable batteries self-drain pretty quickly, so they are not a good idea for emergency flashlights and the like.
NiMHs self-discharge in
NiMHs self-discharge in about a month, sometimes less.
I don't know what kind of currently (no pun intended) available rechargeables you can use in appliances like clocks, unless it's those very expensive, "pre-charged" rechargeables now on the market. Maybe they hold a charge longer.
Clocks, however, tend to run for years on ordinary alkalines. They do need to be reset occasionally, since they aren't synched to the power lines.
Clocks
Here's what's really fun: Get a clock for that emits a different bird call every hour on the hour, then never replace the batteries. Eventually, the batteries will, of course, begin to wear down and the bird calls will get slower and slower until they start sounding like the hero in some thriller screaming in slow motion as he watches the nuclear warhead slip out of his hands and head s-l-o-w-l-y to the ground.
And then the screen goes white ...
Agreed
NStar sent me a letter last week helpfully saying they'll be shutting off our power at some point starting late tonight into Friday morning. The end time was 9am. Luckily, I've long since transitioned into using my cell phone for my alarm, but I'm not looking forward to the prospect of taking a shower in the dark and/or without hot water. Honestly, who thought it was a good idea to possibly shut off power *while* people are getting up in the morning? I agree that middle of the night isn't as helpful as they think it will be, but between 6am and 9am is beyond reason for a scheduled outage.
NStar has got to be the most
NStar has got to be the most incompetent public utility in the [insert geographic area of your choice].
I remember well a series of blackouts in North Cambridge shortly after they took over. I had to spend more than one night sitting out on my tiny balcony because of the lack of a/c or even fans inside the apartment.
I can't even imagine why they are still in business.