More Efficient Use Of Heating Power Urged

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31134, 10 August 1966, Page 10

More Efficient Use Of Heating Power Urged

In some countries, concessions were given to all-electric i consumers who used off-peak ■ power to heat insulated homes and the board could well give early consideration to encour- ; aging the more efficient use ; of off-peak domestic heating, ithe engineer-manager (Mr S. lE. Slatter) told the Central Canterbury Electric Power Board yesterday. In New Zealand, he said, there was wastage of higherintensity heating in homes that lacked effective thermal insulation. More efficient use of power was important at any time, but the more so when its production was factor ever-increasing costs. | The assistant engineer (Mr P. D. Rutledge) had recently attended a seminar on irrigation. Consumers should know that this type of plant could be used off-peak, said Mr Slatter. “Modem techniques of farming, especially in the fields of chilled milk supply, irrigation and grain drying, have in recent experience resulted in individual farms which are, electrically speaking, much more than minor industries,” Mr Slatter continued. “Farmhouses, too, have shown an accelerated consumption of power, with ailelectric heating by no means uncommon. This progress has at times strained our reqnnivpc ** Mr L. T. Griffith said that it was clear that people planning new homes should consider how they could qualify for power at the lower offpeak rate. The board called for a report and a proposed tariff for the greater use of off-peak power. Repairs.—The defective ripple control equipment had been repaired with the help of the New Zealand Electricity Department and the University of Canterbury, and was due for testing. Control should

ibe restored in a day or two. |Mr Slatter said. More Power.—“lt should 'now be possible for the Char(teris Bay Golf Club to use newly-installed heaters without detriment to the surrounding consumers.” said Mr Rutledge. reporting on reconstruction and new transformer installations in the area. “Hot Line.”—Messrs K. Lewis and G. Bray, two staff members who attended a demonstration of the “hot line” technique, said that the feeling was that considerable routine line work could be done with the lines alive. The average lineman using common-i sense should have no trouble using the special tools, but a group of men should receive training, and do all live-line work.