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A Little History of the Affordability of Domestic Energy in Great Britain
Posted by Euan Mearns on June 12, 2008 - 9:55am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Economics/Finance
Tags: coal, domestic fuel prices, electricity, gas, oil, rpi, town gas [list all tags]
This is a Guest Post by Bob Everett. Bob is Lecturer in Renewable Energy at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK.
Domestic energy is getting expensive, but what does that mean compared to the situation in our parents' or grandparents' days? Should we grumble?
The chart above shows domestic fuel prices for Great Britain from 1914 to 2007. The data up to 1985 was compiled by Horace Herring and Rodney Evans and been updated with more recent figures from UK government statistics. It is expressed in UK pounds for the year 2000, adjusted by the retail price index (i.e the price of energy related to other 'real' goods such as food).
At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain's fuel situation was dominated by cheap coal. In RPI terms domestic coal was a third of the price that it is today and the domestic sector consumed vast amounts of it. Town gas made from coal was about five times the price of coal. It was locked in a battle with electricity for the lighting market. This gas/coal price ratio decreased and was down to about 3:1 by the middle of the 20th century due to economies of scale and improved production techniques.
Electricity was initially staggeringly expensive. When Brighton Corporation first started producing it in 1885 they sold it at a shilling (5p) a kWh. Translated in RPI terms that is about £900/GJ in today's money, i.e. way off the top of the chart. Indeed it only gets below £80/GJ in the 1930s, around the time that the National Grid was being created. Yet it was such a desirable commodity that it sold into ordinary working class homes for lighting and appliances.
Oil for heating was not widely available before World War 2 and so doesn't enter the GB statistics. After the war it became available in larger amounts at progressively lower and lower prices and ate into the town gas heating market. However this fought back with a process to produce town gas from imported naptha rather than coal.
In RPI terms electricity prices bottomed out in the 1960s when it became cheap enough for 'all electric homes' to be considered. The bulk of electricity was generated from coal plus some nuclear power.
The oil price rises of 1973 and 1979 put paid to most of the gains of heating oil in the 1960s. North Sea natural gas came to the rescue. The whole country was converted from town gas and it was priced to be competitive with coal. Effectively it wiped out the oil and coal heating markets and much of the rising electric heating market. Britain became a nation of homes with gas-fired central heating. In the 1990s even the power stations started to burn gas rather than coal.
We can also look at this price history through 'earnings deflated' prices (above). As per capita GDP and earnings have increased so an 'average wage' has been able to purchase more and more energy. This has the effect of 'tilting' the whole price curve making energy look even cheaper today than it has been in the past. So although the price of electricity in 1960 was not that much different to today's price in 'real' terms (i.e.in the equivalent number of loaves of bread or eggs), the average wage can afford to buy over twice as much electricity.
It is also noticeable that the 'earnings deflated' price of coal is amazingly flat over the whole of the 20th century. I suspect that this is because the price was mainly determined by the wages of the miners.
But now things are going awry. In RPI terms all of the fuel prices have risen since 2000. GDP and earnings are still going up, but apparently not fast enough to deflate away the fuel price rises. Domestic energy is now set to consume an increasing proportion of the household budget. In 2000 'fuel and power' made up 3.3% of the UK household expenditure. However, this is a long way short of the peak of over 6% in the mid-1960s. If you go back a really long way a budget study of a 1760s Berkshire family estimated that it took 1% of their income just to buy two candles a day.
I'm not sure where the road forward (to the Olduvai Gorge?) will take us. But surely if we're all so much richer than we were in the past (through the magic of economic growth) we should be able to afford decent insulated homes and a genuinely sustainable energy system.
Further reading: Olduvai Revisited 2008
Bob - thanks very much for this contribution. For further information, Bob has been involved in a discussion with BERR about energy prices and this article hit my mail box at midnight.
Two things that strike me. First the uniformity of fuel prices in the top chart. The escalating rise that is taking place and will continue (unless we have massive demand destruction through price or conservation) will be unique in our recent history - I guess thats what you might call an Electric Shock.
Second, the lower chart is a fascinating portrayal of how our living standards have improved. But this is not just through the magic of economic growth - the magic is worked by abundant supply of high eroei energy sources. How do we know we are at a turning point? Well its obviously too early to say from the lower chart. But anyone with time to read the 2,786,934,907 words on TOD - will learn that we know pretty well for sure that we are at a turning point.
Add growing population to the mix and the return trajectory will not mirror the entry trajectory.
Demand can be destroyed in a proactive and virtuous way via conservation. Being able to do exactly what we do now but using a lot less energy. Energy efficiency is King and I wholeheartedly support your effort here Bob and any more support that TOD can offer - the door is open.
The graphs show clearly what we would expect from economic demand theory - increased demand as energy prices fall, plus gearing and economic growth from the more efficient use of FF.
As we move to an era of increasing energy costs the reverse will be true, unless we can find an alternative which will continue to produce adequate amounts of energy requiring a falling percentage of income year after year indefinitely.
Sadly, once started on the route of FF use we can't retrace our steps (in the UK at least) - it looks like we will simply have to live with less energy and it will likely cost a much larger percentage of our income in the short term.
IMO, since in the UK climate we must have a certain amount of energy for heating/cooking, in order to be affordable by all this minimum amount will have to be rationed at some stage. The good news is that the Government can, and is, planning for this (though not overtly since that might panic the public unnecessarily). The long and tortuous path to ID cards for all UK citizens is well under way and is the first critical step to rationing.
http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/index.asp
FWIW, squinting at the graphs and guessing from heating oil prices it looks to me like oil has to go to about $200/barrel to be the same price in 'earnings deflated' prices as it was at the end of the 70s early 80s, i.e. an increase of about 50% over today's prices. i wonder if that is true for other countries?
On the back of cheap energy we have had cheap food allowing for more disposable wealth to buy all that essential "stuff" that we send to the landfill shortly afterwards. It seems obvious to me that this will change and no doubt give rise to calls for affordability of energy, but if it was affordable at over 6% in the mid-1960s then it is affordable at less than 6% today.
ID cards can be used for all sorts of things, thanks to Gordon Clown and Tony Liar (remember he wanted 90 days) we now face 42 day incarceration without charge, compulsory ID cards and a DNA database for all. Remember, Walter Wolfgang was arrested under terrorism legislation merely for heckling Jack Straw. Can you see a pattern emerging here? Are we going to a situation where people are chipped at birth and our every move tracked and traced?
Hey, where did you get my photo from???
Why is it necessary to be able to do exactly what we do now? We need to create an economic infrastructure that will work within the constraints of our finite world. Starting off with a preconceived notion of the level of economic services to which we are entitled does not strike me as an intelligent way to face the coming crisis. If we have truly lived beyond our means and expanded the earth's population beyond what can be supported at OECD standards of living then we have no choice but tighten our belts and pay the price for our past extravagance. I am in favor of making that price as small as possible for humanity as a whole, but having everyone striving to hang on to exactly what they have now is likely to maximize that price rather than minimize it.
Hi Bob,
Very informative post. I remember back in the 60s when there were claims that electricity would be "too cheap to meter" with the advent of nuclear! Of course even back then nobody was proposing to actually supply it for free.
I found this;
"It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter, will know of great periodic regional famines in the world only as matters of history, will travel effortlessly over the seas and under them and through the air with a minimum of danger and at great speeds, and will experience a lifespan far longer than ours as disease yields and man comes to understand what causes him to age."
Lewis L. Strauss
Speech to the National Association of Science Writers, New York City September 16th, 1954.
So, looks like we will soon be at 0 out of 4.
Tony,
How about these:
and
BobE
Very nice quotes;
I always favour having somthing lavished on me:-)
Strange that Lenin could describe Russia as small.
Thanks for this Bob. Your closing sentence is interesting. I do wonder if we are so much richer now than we were in the past. I think in many ways we are considerably poorer (we have less decent topsoil available these days for starters!). Consider physical things, large projects that we could afford to do decades ago yet the equivalent is now out of reach. In the UK things like the London Underground train system, the motorway network and in little more than a decade the construction of the 7 AGR nuclear power stations. We don't seem to have the capital to do things of that scale any more, how can this be if we're richer than ever?
I would suggest we have be living off, drawing down upon, previous wealth and investments for quite some time now. Not only is this a fundamentally unsustainable regime but is also particularly problematic when we consider the large capital investments required to move our energy systems away from fossil fuels. We might simply not be rich enough.
This is an interesting point that has occurred to me in the past a few times. We have much better technology today that in the 1960's and yet we can't do some of the things that we were able to do in the 1960's because it isn't economic. eg. we used to be able to fly across the Atlantic in little more than 3 hours (Concorde), not any more. It takes longer to cross the English Channel than it used to (Hovercraft is now gone). We went the moon, starting from scratch in 8 years (we can't even build a disposable replacement for the shuttle into low earth orbit in 8 years now!). The speed record for a manned plane was set in the 1960s (X-15). We've spent 50 years trying to develop a replacement for the B-52 and after at least 4 attempts (XB-70, B-1A, B1-B, B-2) still haven't managed it.
Those are just the first things that come to mind. It certainly suggests there is some problem with the price of some modern technologies when they are applied to physically large projects (ie not computers, etc., which are relatively small). (Ofcourse there are a few counter examples, eg. the Gotthard Basis Tunnel but there aren't very many of these (and I can't think of any in Anglo-Saxon economies...)).
We have built the internet which is great.
We have built wireless telecoms networks.
We have built CERN - which is likely the most expensive experiment ever done. I assume this money is being spent so that once the physicists work out how stuff works, they will be able to work out how to get energy from it.
We have spent vast sums on improving health care - thus keeping more and more people alive for a lot, lot longer. An interesting debate to be had around this point since over population lies at the heart of the global resource problem.
And we have spent vast sums on road and air transport infrastructure. Politicians inability to foresee the significant trend reversal that lies ahead of us make this the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of Man (Kunstler).
But in general I agree - this ME ME ME culture we live in, subsidised by past generation's generosity and Earth's legacy of high eroei FF.
You can make an argument that we don't invest in infrastructure anymore because we're too rich; that is, the investor class is. When you get 15-20% ROIs from financial legerdemain there are few corporate executives that will actually build projects that take 5-10 years to complete and have pesky ROIs in the 5-6% range. That was cool pre-70's, but now big money wants big returns.
Bob, the contribution is much appreciated. Not quite the whole country was covered by N Sea gas however; there are still 1.5m of us, mainly in rural areas, whom the former Gas Council and subsequent private energy companies did not see fit to connect us. As a result those 1.5m households without gas are paying a lot more for their energy in the form of either electricity, heating oil or LPG.
I'm using heating oil and according to calculations I ran the other day am paying 173% more per Kw vs best quote for gas supply. With no tax on heating oil apart from 5% VAT which is applied to all UK energy bills heating oil costs have more or less tracked the crude price. To fill my oil tank cost around £250 ($360) in 2001; a fill up today is almost £1500 ($2925). If Gazprom's $250/bbl price forecast for oil within next 18 months is correct cost of a fill would hit £2500 ($5000).
From reports I've seen energy costs are already causing hardship in rural areas without gas supplies and an increasing number of thefts of heating oil are being reported, in some cases the entire tank has been emptied. It's also interesting to note that virtually all the publicity has been devoted to domestic gas prices and motor fuel prices, both of which have risen far less in percentage terms vs heating oil. Fuel protests have been more or less entirely confined to motor fuel which in UK (due to dampening effect of taxation) has risen much less in percentage terms than domestic energy supplies whether they be gas, electricity, heating oil or LPG. We might conclude that many are more concerned about their cars than keeping warm!
I appreciate your problem. I have relatives who live in the country and have oil heating. They've put in the loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and double glazing, but prices are going beyond this now. A low capital cost way out would be to switch to off-peak resistance electric heating, but it will only be a matter of time before the electricity prices zoom up.
We are getting to oil prices (and no doubt soon gas and electricity prices) where its a case of externally insulating the walls (although they're already insulated in the cavity) up to Passivhaus standards (i.e. an extra 150mm foam insulation), buying a solar water heater and digging up the lawn to put in the ground-source electric heat pump. (I think I'll wait for some more field trial results on GSHPs before I recommend one of them, though.)
BobE
This is exactly the challenge my parents have. Both live in the country (separated) with no gas. My father's place uses straw for central heating and hot water with electric emersion heater for top up in the summer and wood stoves in the downstairs rooms. My mother has oil fired heating (old non-condensing boiler) and a wood / coal stoves.
Both houses are 200+ years old with solid walls. One has high ceilings the other low, both have double glazing and loft insulation but I expect things in the loft could be improved.
The challenges are cost on the one hand, especially oil at my mother’s place and electricity for both. On the other hand energy security. What if in a few years time oil can’t be bought for love nor money or we have rolling blackouts in the heart of winter?
Solar thermal for hot water seems obvious – it replaces electricity use in the summer for my father and oil use for my mother, it both cases the economics are improving. It won’t help much in the winter though. Solid fuel (with large storage on site) guarantees a degree of space heating in both cases, so coupled with super insulation on some rooms should go a long way towards keeping warm. The challenge then becomes electricity security.
I think there’s a very good case for domestic uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) connected to a “critical” circuit in the house, lighting, the freezer maybe, central heating pumps, radio etc. The motors on refrigeration and pumping equipment pose a problem for low cost UPS solutions though. GSHPs whilst providing a good multiplier for electrical energy, do still rely on reasonably priced electricity. In the UK they have never been cost effective as the cost per kWh of electricity was always some 3 times greater than oil or gas, negating the heat pump’s improvement. In the longer term is oil and gas become unavailable but electricity is still available then heat pumps will become useful.
Looking at the longer term, to a future with significantly less heating oil, gas and electricity available, keeping our homes warm and lit will be a tremendous challenge. One sure to be met in many cases by being colder and dimmer with serious consequences for the elderly.
Chris,
I "recycled" a large commercial emergency lighting system, effectively a 5kW UPS backed up with a 10kWh set of lead acid batteries. I have wired its outputs to provide 4 "mission critical" circuits, into which appliances can be quickly plugged across - should the electricity mains supply fail. This change-over could be achieved automatically with a little extra switchgear.
Whilst normally charged from my back-up generator, it would be equally be possible to keep it trickle charged from cheap-rate "Economy 7" supply, and accounting for the charge/discharge turn-around efficiency of the batteries and inverter it would still be possible to maintain the same cost per kWh as the standard daytime rate.
I do not currently have a dual tariff meter, but might investigate the costs of having a white meter installed.
I think the key is to diversify one's domestic energy sources. Whilst the nation chose to put all it's eggs into the North Sea gas basket, the individual is still able to make the personal choices, such as diversifying into wood fired heating and solar water heating, in order to achieve a greater degree of energy security.
I suspect in the timeframe 2012-2016, the nation will have a better understanding of the meaning of energy security.
2020
That's exactly the way I'm thinking. I figured on <750w load to keep emergency stuff running so 200Ah will keep you running overnight with a small 1kW generator charging and powering in the day.
I have assessed 3 levels of response -
1. very occasional and momentary blackouts, 2-3 hours max
battery only max 4 hours TOTAL £560
inverter 1000w £80
230Ah battery £300
simple 100A switch £40
UPS £70
ADSL / 3G switchover £80
PC on local UPS, limited load from inverter for 4 hours max
2. occasional and day long blackouts
backup generator system TOTAL £900
inverter 1000w £80
230Ah battery £300
1kw petrol generator £300
simple 100A switch £40
LED backup lighting £100
ADSL / 3G switchover £80
PC on local UPS, limited load from generator daytime, battery nighttime
3. regular and long blackouts
TOTAL £1830
Whole house 10 minute UPS £200
4kw diesel generator £750
auto failover £200
inverter 3000w £200
230Ah battery £300
LED backup lighting £100
ADSL / 3G switchover £80
Loads :
min load -> 600w day 200w night
CH pump, boiler, controllers 250w
LED lighting 80w
1 LCD TV 100w
Alarm & CCTV 40w
Phones 25w
Fridge 80w
average load -> 1500w ( 8 hr load = 3000w )
CH pump, boiler, controllers 250w
Std lighting 750w
1 LCD TV 100w
PC 250w
Alarm & CCTV 40w
Phones 25w
Fridge 80w
peak load -> 3500w
CH pump, boiler, controllers 250w
Std lighting 1750w
2 LCD TV 200w
PC 250w
Alarm & CCTV 40w
Phones 25w
Microwave 800w
Fridge 80w
In each case you have to assume natural gas is still on otherwise the game changes again and you have to go to the 4th level which is almost complete off-grid.
The issue is WHEN do you install each level ? Too soon and you waste capital, too late and the installation costs escalate hugely. I'm renovating right now and will wire up for the equipment, ie 100A cable under the drive to a suitable spot for an outhouse generator etc. But apart from a UPS for PC equipment and LED torches I'm not ready for anything higher yet.
Orbit,
What you really have is a risk management problem. The worst possible outcome is that you will be unable to make any of the changes you propose. If that were to be the case, how would that impact your life?
I'm in a rural area in the US and installed a 3.6kW PV system about 9 years ago. Our underlying rationale was that despite the high cost we needed electricity available for our well pump, refrigerator and freezers. The impetus for installing the PV system was that during one long (about a week) power outage we were unable to buy additional gasoline for our back-up generator since the gas stations didn't have power either and couldn't pump gas.
Todd
Divorce will become a luxury as peak oil worsens. I already know some couples who have stayed together because housing costs were too high. As energy bills become more expensive it will be the cost of heating which keeps couples together.
I agree with the basic point on the inefficient of small family unit, in this case the separation was many years ago and family units are back up to more efficient numbers now!
The more critical aspect is the elderly - I think it will rapidly become unviable for all but the wealthiest of pensioners to live alone. I can only hope their children will welcome them into their homes (or the children return to the old family home).
BobE, thanks for the reply. I've likely a similar problem to Chris Vernon's parents as my house also has very thick granite walls, is around 200 years old and such houses are notoriously difficult to insulate effectively. Solar is not really an option as location is 57deg N which means little energy would be available from this source during the months when it's most needed.
I've already 2 wood stoves installed and currently a virtually limitless supply of free wood; that will of course change when large numbers struggle to afford energy bills thus placing more pressure on wood resources. Having said that I'm fortunate in living in an area with a large amount of fallen wood on my own land and its surroundings thus I don't need to even consider using live wood. My wife and I have lots of warm clothing which we use on mountain trips and wearing it at home in winter reduces required indoor temperature considerably.
The one item, which is rapidly becoming a luxury, is the Aga. We are exploring options to use a small plug-in electric cooker thus enabling Aga to be turned off for days at a time and, as oil prices escalate, for all the warmer months. It will be necessary to install an immersion heater as we don't have one given that the Aga is so dependable and gravity fed which means water heating is independent of electricity supply. We do, however, have a white meter and a long discontinued legacy tariff although it's more or less certain that electricity costs will rise a lot in line with other energy costs.
Hi zceb90,
I have a Heartland cooker (made by Aga here in Canada) that utilizes bottle gas. Our LPG demands are fairly modest -- about 75 litres/year to operate the dryer, BBQ and cooker -- but in an effort to trim this further we now use a portable induction hob. Going forward, the only time we envision using gas is in the event of an extended power cut.
The beauty of induction is that the operating efficiency is more than twice that of gas; it's also extremely fast, responds immediately to setting changes and offers precise temperature control (e.g., you can set it for 150C and it will automatically maintain that temperature even if you add or remove liquids). In addition, it's easy to clean.
This particular unit draws 1.6 kW and plugs into the mains. It sits on top of the cooker so that it can be used with the draft hood (http://www.datafilehost.com/download-9132d0d5.html).
Cheers,
Paul
Bob,
One thing that might be useful would be for an independent advisory company who could visit one's property and recommend various measures with an indication of likely costings and effectiveness. These people would have to have a good knowledge rather then just being an average "cowboy" builder keen to sell what they could bodge/install.
You mentioned externally insulating the walls but this is only possible if you own the space around the walls, e.g. if my wall is in my neighbour's garden then they will most likely object if I want to take 150mm+ of their space. Back to inside, what options are available that require the minimum loss of space? What can i install with a maximum of 2" of thickness? I have a very high ceiling, think church, no loft so what are my options?.....
Tony, you can't get a free survey unless you can get an installer to agree, and of course you should go to a registered one, but you can go to this web address for an energy questionnaire to check your energy use:
www.est.org.uk/check
Here is some info on insulation - the pdf downloads give good info on your options for insulating different structures:
http://www.celotex.co.uk/
Celotex Insulation | High Performance Thermal Insulation Boards
Sounds as though you could do with installing the 50mm option, and then you have plaster board on top of it - you have solid walls I take it.
Denim insulation is also worth a look:
http://www.bondedlogic.com/ultratouch.htm
Bonded Logic - Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation
Hope this helps.
Dave, many thanks for the links, I like the sound of having a denim house:-)
I am quite happy to pay and wasn't looking for a freebie but just something more clued up and impartial than a builder out of the Yellow Pages.
Apparently (I'm told) legally there is such a thing as a 'flying freehold' where your property is allowed to overhang an adjacent one. Quite how you go about this I don't know.
I have noticed a local house which has been discreetly insulated with only 25 mm external insulation. I suspect this is because it is totally surrounded by pavement and maybe something thicker might have created problems. Even so an inch of insulation will roughly halve the heat loss of a solid brick wall - 2 inches will cut it to a third. The 2006 UK Building Regs suggest a refurbishment wall U-value of 0.35 which is about 4 inches of rockwool or polystyrene.
I internally insulated my living room (built 1897) with 50mm rockwool 20 years ago. It worked a treat. The room actually became heatable. I did it in midwinter and the internal wall surface temperature rose by 2 degrees centigrade and the temperature gradient between floor and ceiling was considerably reduced - I wasn't sitting in a puddle of cold air while there was lots of hot air up at ceiling level.
Polyisocyanurate foam (Kingspan, Celotex, etc) gives a better performance (about 50%)than rockwool - I did my bedroom with it last year but it's blown with pentane so you might be a little nervous about fire risk.
Trying reading the Energy Savings Trust booklet Practical Refurbishment of Solid Walled Houses at
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/uploads/documents/housingbuildings/C...
or have a look on their home page at
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/
or give them a ring on 0800 512 012 (that's if you're in the UK)
BobE
Bob,
Thanks for the information, i will check up on these.
The Polyisocyanurate foam sounds good and hopefully i can stick it to the walls? I'm not worried about the fire risk since I' don't have any smokers in my buildings and wiring etc is all new:-)
Tony,
Have a look at the Celotex link above. You can screw a wooden frame to the wall, fill in between with foam and then put plasterboard over the top (that's what I've done in my bedroom). Or you can put a layer on insulation on the wall and then a thin wooden batten structure screwed through the insulation on the wall with plasterboard on top.
Or you can get foam backed plasterboard that you can glue to the wall (it helps to have flat wall surfaces). For example see Lafarge wall boards at
http://www.lafargeplasterboard.co.uk/products/prods/therm_res.htm
Bob E
Geothermal.
If you are using heating oil, take a look at "Ground Source Heat Pumps", I believe they became cheaper than heating oil a couple of years ago. You may also want to consider knocking down your 90 year old house and building a "Fertighaus", almost 40cm of insulation in each wall and they're up in 3 weeks or so.
If you tried knocking down a 90 year old house in the UK and putting up something else you would be told to take down the new structure and re-build the old one, regardless of cost. You would never get the planning permission.
Air source heat pumps are just fine in the UK's climate without going to all the expense of ground source:
http://www.neweyandeyre.co.uk/Electric-Heating.php
Hi zceb90,
"an increasing number of thefts of heating oil "
I heard about one farmer who had huge amouints of his red diesel (cheap diesel) stolen and to make it even worse the thieves just let what they couldn't take away run into the ground and so pollute the watercourse. A journalist friend of mine who has recently investigated the illegal use of red diesel tells me that thieves have tanks hidden inside ordinary looking vans.
Thanks for an informative post.
On the road back down in energy it is apparent that a society cannot continue in it's present form at at the same energy levels as previous ones - for instance, the society of the 1900's would not have been able to run on the energy inputs of that of the 1850's, or that of 1950 on that of 1900 - IOW the energy inputs and prices shape the society.
I am wondering what stops at what level of energy input?
What are the minimum supplies needed to keep our society going?
How much oil is needed for the ancillary equipment to keep the nuclear reactors going?
How much to stop the London Underground flooding, or the barrage on the Thames working?
Power for hospitals?
For agriculture?
IOW, given energy shortages, what stops working, when and in what order?
It is plain that even in the event of a power cut a lot more things would stop than in the 1970's, with every computer down and business at a halt,and with the petrol stations unable to pump fuel.
How are the emergency services set up to run with the power out?
It is now not if, but when, so since the Government is paralysed we need to get some idea of how things will hsape up if we are not to be caught totally unprepared.
I don't know what I can do to help, but perhaps those of us in the UK can at least fadge up a rough picture.
Where I am, on the Isle of Wight, IOW can only mean one thing. Can you please elaborate?
What, you want me to put it in other words? :-)
Alfred,
Isle of Wight is a great place, for other acronyms try
http://www.acronymfinder.com/
BFN