Instead of rolling blackouts when there's a power shortage, why don't we just allow (or deliberately) the voltage and frequency to drop? Wouldn't that make a lot of devices use less?

Sure, but we would need to replace all electrical devices by the their Thevenin Equivalent.Seriously, All electrical device need to use a certain amount of power. We often convert the mains voltages and currents to other voltages and currents that devices can consume. There are probably some power supplies that could use the lower voltages and frequencies and get the same power. Some motors and clocks may run slower but some would not work at all. If we still had incandescent light bulbs they would be dimmer, the reason for the old term 'brown out'. Most modern devices would not work and might even be damaged.So No.

Mains power voltage drop to reduce usage?

Nov 06, 2022 Last reply: 2 years ago 602 Replies

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Commander Kinsey 3 years ago

Unfortunately he can be arrested for that.

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tony sayer 3 years ago

Humm thou might!, but remember back to that time when its was around 40 centigrade?. It was around that time, meeting an old mate of mine who was running the sound system. It seems these days that the women folk are very scantily clad not like what it was like when i were young you know;!...

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Commander Kinsey 3 years ago

If only the world ran out of raw materials for clothes.....

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