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"But what's really bad about that is that when you look at efficiency numbers only about 20% of the energy contained in those gallons of fossil fuels are actual
by mlinsey 18y ago
"But what's really bad about that is that when you look at efficiency numbers only about 20% of the energy contained in those gallons of fossil fuels are actually doing useful work. About 80% of their energy is simply wasted as heat. That has to change."
Uh, I'm not a Mechanical Engineer, but isn't that a pretty typical ratio? Obviously higher-efficiency tech should be a priority, but in an article whose purpose is apparently to compare China and California, this makes it sound like California is using particularly wasteful technologies.
- hugh 18y agoYep, 20% efficiency is pretty normal in an internal combustion engine. Burning the same fuel in a power plant, on the other hand, you can get 80-90% efficiency.
- anamax 18y agoI wish that I remember which law of thermodynamics makes 80% "unlikely".
- hugh 18y agoThe second (it's always the second). And you're right, I was wrong, the maximum efficiency of a power plant is more like 50%. Perhaps I was thinking of the efficiency of the turbines rather than the whole process.