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Iphones run on oil too (and coal, gas, nuclear energy, and various renewable fuels). It's just that giant synchronous generators are more efficient than a milli
by drcube 15y ago
Iphones run on oil too (and coal, gas, nuclear energy, and various renewable fuels). It's just that giant synchronous generators are more efficient than a million internal combustion engines, so they burn the oil at a central location and pipe it to you over wires in the form of electricity.
It's like asking "how much gas does it take to run the LCD screen on my car stereo?", comparing it to how much electricity a mansion uses and concluding that gas is the old fuddy duddy stick in the mud holding back progress.
- herge 15y agoHow many times more efficient is a gas power plant than the average use of a car?
- drcube 15y agoWikipedia says: "Even when aided with turbochargers and stock efficiency aids, most engines retain an average efficiency of about 18%-20%." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_engine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_engine Wikipedia again: "Typical thermal efficiency for electrical generators in the industry is around 33% for coal and oil-fired plants, and up to 50% for combined-cycle gas-fired plants." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_power_plant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_power_plant
- drcube 15y agoThat neglects to mention the inefficiency in distributing gasoline via gas-powered vehicles to hundreds of millions of drivers.