All these plans also totally ignore logical time frams. a) the equipment doesn't yet exist, b) people need to agree to those new restrictions c) all the bugs need to be sorted d) it takes between 10 and 20 years to replace appliances. How's that going to solve energy shotages in the next 20-30 years.

And that's just domestic energy use. Business energy consumption is much harder to restructure.

I'm alarmed that Nicola Shaw, executive director of the National Grid is pinning our future on smart appliances. She thinks 'an "internet of energy" will allow fridges, washers and dishwashers to help balance energy demand.' To which I say bollo....

'she argued that between 30% and 50% of fluctuations on the electricity grid could be smoothed by households and businesses adjusting their demand at peak times.'

People need to use their equipment when they need it. We're specifically told not to leave appliances to work over night. Washing machines have been designed to use more electricity, not less as they now only use cold feed water. Are people supposed to store up a weeks worth of washing or stay up until the early morning to unload their washer? What about those with babies, especially those who've been fooled into buying non disposable nappes? Fridges and freezers are at their peak when people are using them, especially putting in their shopping. Are they supposed to hold off cooling things? What about food safety? Are we supposed to eat our dinner at midnight? Or just nuke something at about 7pm? And what about the gas free revolution? Will we have to shiver till it's off peak?

Smart energy revolution

When the executives of the Grid want to rely on dubious predictions in consumer trends, be afraid, be very afraid.

PCar. Downward striking lightning commonly does not hit the highest points of an object. Your explanation also fails when dealing with upward strikes.

Regarding burning blades, what you conveyed was that the blade materials would not burn but perhaps the resin binder might. The photographs definitively show blades burning even if it were only the resin. It has been suggested here that some blades are made of a carbon fibre composite. That will burn.

Written before coffee but with brain fully engaged.

Pcar, when I grabbed and used what turned out to be a CO2 Fire Extinguisher, I had no idea about what type it was. I pulled the pin, squeezed the trigger, and held onto the cone like a rifle to aim it. A bucket of water would have sufficed, but a bucket and tap was further away.

I was 20ish, and had done CPR training through school etc 4-5 times, First Aid Courses, Scuba Diving First Aid, umpteen Fire Drills and Evacuations, but NEVER any training on extinguishing a small fire.

A lot of money is spent on providing good quality and appropriate Fire Extinguishers, that nobody will ever use, because they are told not to, and never told how to, for fear they will risk their lives by trying. I am glad to have done a 2 Day Marine Fire Fighting Course, which did involve putting out a chip pan fire with a fire blanket. Another popular piece of kit that very few people know how to use.

Pcar:

I should have added that kerosene is added to diesel fuel as a pour point depressant in cold weather. Diesel fuel can wax up, forming wax crystals that block flow lines and injectors as temperatures drop, and the kero lowers the temperature at which that happens - albeit at the penalty of reduced cetane, so usually cetane improver additives, a careful choice of crude to provide a higher cetane diesel cut, and avoiding using too much other low cetane blending components such as cycle oil from catalytic cracking are used as offsets. A side benefit is that usually diesel fuel bears a much higher tax than kerosene, so mix-your-own is popular - but can lead to damaged engines if overdone. HMRC have been known to take an interest in overly dilute diesel too - there are legal limits.

Pcar:

There is a viscosity specification for jet fuel which is indeed related to fuel injectors among other things, but it is rarely a binding constraint (which are usually the safety elements of freeze point, associated with average molecular weight, PNA composition - and flash point).

Wide cut fuels are used by the military to offer them supply flexibility. That's why a tank can run on almost anything you can pour into it - you never know what you may or may not have access to in a war setting. It involves such exotica as variable compression ratio engines to cope with the different fuels. There are also special requirements - such as JP 5, which has a high flash point for added safety in aircraft carrier operations, and Jet B which has a very low freeze point and a large element of naphtha blended in for use in extreme arctic conditions - but that comes with a big flash point risk. Even more specialised is RP-1 rocket fuel, which is mainly composed of a very narrow range of molecular weights around C12 hydrocarbons, with polycyclic isomers being preferred. This requires considerable extra refining.