Author

Will Best

Turkey Powerlines. 16/04/2015
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The Turkish Powercut : Possible Explanations

As the days have passed, and an answer to what really caused the massive power cut that virtually shut down Turkey early on Tuesday morning, March 31st 2015, is seemingly no nearer. The head of the country’s state-run power grid has resigned, taking responsibility for a host of management errors that are now said to be responsible for the black out. A further two officials have since been suspended and are currently under investigation. The official line to date is that the problem arose due to two major plant maintenance... Read More

26/02/2015
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The Importance of Visual Inspection when PAT testing

Visual inspection is an important function carried out during portable appliance testing (PAT) in order to ensure personal safety in the workplace. As a consequence, visual inspection should only be carried out by a qualified tester, someone trained in PAT testing, and who has gained a recognised certificate of competence. Industry is often a harsh environment. Damage to equipment can occur at any time and often unnoticed, even minutes after an annual inspection. Many electrical appliance defects are identified by a quick visual inspection, but not all. Other types of... Read More

dangerous electrics 04/02/2015
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What are the risks of overloading sockets?

What are the risks from overloading a socket? Well, for a start, it’s dangerous, and can cause fires – and is therefore extremely harmful to ones health, even fatal. Overloading a socket can destroy complete homes and a lifetime’s possessions; causes financial hardship, incurred costs, disrupts lives completely. The simple act of overloading a socket can be costly, and yet can so easily be avoided. Many lives and even more injuries can be prevented by the simplest of precautions. There are a reported 20,000 fires in the home each year... Read More

14/01/2015
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Why do we recycle?

Recycling is a term we hear often today, but how many of us know the importance of recycling and the reasons we are continuously told we should do it? Even without taking environmental issues into consideration, recycling would seem a logical and sensible thing to do. In today’s throw away age, these times of austerity, the best way of saving money begins by recycling, with reducing waste a close second: and the bonus if you like, are the environmental benefits that result from recycling. Yet still there is reluctance by... Read More

18/12/2014

How to save Electricity

The best and obvious way to reduce electricity bills is by cutting down consumption – and that isn’t as difficult as you might imagine; saving energy isn’t difficult to organise or necessarily involve great expense – the next step is to stop wasting what we do use. A typical household can save between £45 and £80 a year simply by remembering to switch off electrical appliances usually left on permanent standby – remember to switch lights off when not needed, and you can add to that saving substantially. Here we... Read More

16/12/2014
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The World’s Worst Power Cuts

A recent report highlighted that ‘Severe Economic Consequences’ would hit the UK in the event of a serious power outage. The Royal Academy of Engineering reported that although the likelihood of a power outage in the UK is low, any disruption would cost billions of pounds. The UK was given a taste of such disruption this week after London Airspace was briefly closed because of a power outage at the NATS control centre in Swanwick. The report issued by the academy comes at a time when worldwide many countries with... Read More

08/12/2014

Top 10 man-made disasters

The earth is no stranger to disasters; it often cultivates its own in the form of hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and floods. However mankind has also created disasters that have devastated the environment and taken a number of lives. The 10 worst man-made disasters are difficult to order and identify, but the list below touches on some of the worst…. London’s Pea Soup Fog of the 50’s From the time of the Battle of Waterloo, London has always experienced fog but with the increase in the use of coal, the situation... Read More

28/11/2014
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What to do if you put the wrong fuel in your car

What to do if you put the wrong fuel in your car   If you have ever put the wrong fuel in your car, you are one of more than 400 people who accidentally do this every day in the UK. Take heart… it can happen to anyone – honest – though that doesn’t prevent you feeling a bit silly at the time.   But what do you do after you have counted to ten, muttered expletive laden words of frustration under your breath – then realised you’re stuck…what do... Read More