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The modern home includes a host of gadgets that rely on a controlled and constant fuel supply. Sian Lewis of AMDEA looks at how we came to depend on electricity and what this might mean for the future of domestic appliances.
The magnetic properties of iron oxides were understood over 2000 years ago but the first use of the English word electricity (from the Greek word for amber) dates from around 1600 when William Gilbert developed a theory to explain magnetic attraction in terms of an invisible fluid.
Subsequent scientific experiments and theories led to a succession of successful attempts to generate and use an electric current. In 1893 the first use of domestic refuse to generate electricity was demonstrated in Halifax and that same year an electric kitchen was displayed in Chicago.
The First World War had already had a drastic impact on British society but after WWII the losses from a second generation of men of working age and the availability of a greater range of jobs for women meant that affluent households struggled to find domestic staff. And with more women working outside the home there was a growing demand for labour-saving devices.
The UK also nationalised its electricity supply and embarked on a programme of full electrification. While gas remained popular for cookers (and more recently central heating boilers) the ever-expanding range of household products is primarily electrical.
Within a few decades we have reached a point where certain appliances are seen as a minimum requirement for decent standards of living. The poorest household expects to have a fridge, cooker, washing machine, kettle, toaster, etc (not to mention a television, mobile ‘phone and computer). And most of these rely on electricity.
As demand has grown there has also been a change in the fuels supplying our power stations. Electricity was traditionally generated mainly from domestically produced oil and gas, but as well as nuclear power the UK has also imported oil and gas. In spite of efforts to promote renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and even biogas from waste, the UK remains a net importer of energy and current forecasts suggest our existing network could become inadequate within the next decade.
The UK is planning to build more nuclear reactors and in the interim there is a plentiful supply of gas which may be piped through the existing main or shipped in compressed form. But demand for energy is expected to increase just as climate change is exerting ever greater pressure to find alternatives to fossil fuels.
Current government policy not only predicates increased household demand for electricity (even for heating) but also assumes that we will switch to electric cars. With nuclear power stations on full-time and wind farms only when the wind blows, the challenge for the future will be how to balance supply and demand while limiting reliance on fossil fuel power stations. Additionally there will be fluctuations in supply resulting from co-generation as Feed In Tariffs encourage small energy producers (including households) to supply electricity to the grid.
The government is already committed to the installation of so-called ‘smart meters’ that will enable consumers to monitor their energy use more easily and choose from variable tariffs. This is the first step towards a ‘smart grid’ which would allow energy suppliers to match demand for energy more closely with supply and potentially even charge for smaller time slots. So you might still make toast for breakfast at the same time, but you would run the dishwasher at a time when your electricity was cheaper or when your energy supplier’s computer said there was spare capacity.
In recent years we have seen significant improvements in the energy efficiency of domestic appliances. The next phase of their evolution will be increased flexibility – the potential to delay a wash cycle until the mains network signals that the electricity is cheaper or even a feature that delegates control to the products themselves.
There are many unresolved issues, not least the extent to which a household’s ability to pay for the convenience of washing up after a meal might outweigh any financial incentive to wait until supply is available.
Many appliances already have complex electronic controls with a variety of functions. The challenge for our industry is to find ways of making them more adaptable to a fluctuating supply of energy.
