peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
Thanks to all for once again making a difficult concept easier to understand.
kingpb said:Also to clarify, is that reactive power is consumed by non generating loads, it is however not considered usable, with the amount of usefulness being based on the power factor. The closer the pf is to 1.0 per unit or 100%, the less apparent power is wasted. I don't think it is accurate to say that reactive power flows back onto the system since it is consumed in things like transformers, induction motors, and HID lighting.
peter d said:How does an electric meter read true power vs. apparent power. We know that if we put a regular clamp on meter on a reactive load without PF correction it will tell us the apparent power. So how does a kilowatt-hour meter "know" the difference?