Abstract
SINCE coal can be produced at a uniform rate and stored ready for use as required, the plant necessary for its production has only to be capable of supplying the average demand. The same is true of oil and gas but not of electricity. Therefore the size of the necessary generating plant for electricity is fixed by the maximum and not by the average demand. As a rule the maximum output is about three times the average output and so most generating stations could treble their output provided the load was evenly distributed over the day and night. As capital charges usually represent an appreciable fraction of the selling price of electricity, any new demand which tends to level the load can be supplied economically at a reduced tariff. In thermal storage systems for heating buildings or for supplying hot water, use is made of this principle by supplying heat to the storage water at times of light load at a much reduced rate. In the case of electric ‘cookers’ using thermal storage, the problem is more difficult as the temperature required for cooking is much higher and the cost limits the use of too much thermal insulation. In an article on storage cookers in the General Electric Co.'s Journal for November, O. W. Humphreys and Dr. E. C. Walton describe different types of these devices used in America and various Continental countries as well as the ‘magnet storage cooker’. Compared with the standard type of electric cooker, the latter has the following advantages. The cost of installation is very low as it is merely the cost of an extra lighting point in the house circuit. The cost of maintenance is also very low compared with the ordinary cooker, and no meter is required. When the electric supply is sufficiently cheap these cookers might well be used. Some are already in use in the Midlands in the homes of working-class people.
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Electric Cooking on the Thermal Storage System. Nature 130, 993 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130993a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130993a0