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> It will be anchored close to Orkney where it will produce enough electricity to power 2,000 homes. I can't possibly express my existential torment that I fee
by 4ad 6y ago
> It will be anchored close to Orkney where it will produce enough electricity to power 2,000 homes.
I can't possibly express my existential torment that I feel when I read statements like this in an article.
Just state the damn power in SI units.
A close second is measuring the size of something in terms of "football fields" or "Rhode Island" (wtf??). I am pretty sure this is tied into the general innumeracy of the population.
- jakubp 6y agoSame here. Lack of Watt output and expected (measured?) kWh cost in the lead of the story is baffling.
- davisoneee 6y agoI'm an electrical engineer and an academic. A key part of communication is _knowing your audience_, and communicating what is appropriate for them. Your average reader doesn't need to know how many W this generates. While, yes, HN may appreciate knowing the expected power output, that's basically irrelevant for the average reader. This is from the BBC, not a scientific journal. While your average reader may know that their microwave is 800W, telling them "This turbine will generate <x> kW" doesn't mean anything. They _do_ have a home. If they don't _need_ to know/use Watts on a day to day basis, then the number is just going to be forgotten. However, they _might_ remember "a tidal turbine that can power thousands of homes". It would be lovely if everyone was scientifically literate, but people have other shit going on in their lives. On a pragmatic level, I'd rather society remember the abstract idea of 'how many homes' than _forget_ the precise '<x> megawatts'.
- loonster 6y agoJust define the value in home equivalents after the actual power amount.
- JumpCrisscross 6y agoAs an American reader, home equivalents speaks to the political impact of the project better than wattage. The latter requires the context of the average home's usage in the relevant geography to contextualise.
- hinkley 6y agoI thought you were going to go a different direction after your first sentence. Largest turbine and it’s only going to power 2000 homes? That’s apparently about 9% of the power for the island, not counting industry (eg, Scotch), which sounds more impressive, but not that impressive.
- marcosdumay 6y agoAny practical deployment would consist of turbine farms. A single (couple of) turbine is just something you experiment on.