4 ms·

A single truck requires more energy to operate in a year.

gruez 2y ago
Are you confusing MW (power) with MWh (energy)? There's no way that a truck uses more energy, unless it's running 24/7 or something.
- 486sx33 2y ago
  84 Megawatts = 112645.86 Horsepower
  - 542354234235 2y ago
    Fast and Furious 12: Too Trash Too Furious
throwup238 2y ago
According to [1] an electric garbage truck traveling 15,000 miles a year uses about 38,960 kWh. An 84 MW power plant produces 84,000 kWh every hour, or enough to power more than two trucks for an entire year. Even if we assume that the diesel equivalent uses a hundred times as much it's still a tiny fraction of what the plant in TFA produces. [1] https://www.oregon.gov/deq/ghgp/Documents/ElectricGarbageTrucks.pdf https://www.oregon.gov/deq/ghgp/Documents/ElectricGarbageTru...
- rtkwe 2y ago
  Couple issues with that comparison: 15k seemed low given I drive ~10k a year and I don't work a job that uses my car, so I checked refuse trucks drive on average more like 25k miles per year and there are many servicing a single dump. Also most garbage trucks are still diesel so you've got to 5-10x that power usage number and there's all the vehicles used to compact and move the trash once it reaches the landfill which are also (currently) pretty exclusively diesel powered (think bulldozers and soil compactors with some excavators thrown in). https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10309 https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10309
  - bluGill 2y ago
    The point is this is free energy - all of the energy sent to the trucks is going to be done either way.
  - marcosdumay 2y ago
    So, you use more of that "enough energy to power them for an ear" that your power plant is outputting every hour. There are plenty of hours in an year. You won't get any meaningful problem by complaining about the OP's approximations.
_2d30 2y ago
A single truck requires more energy to operate in a year than 70k homes do!? I find this extremely difficult to believe. As far as I can tell, the EIA [1] suggests the average home uses 10,791 kWh a year. A gallon of gasoline contains ~33.7 kWh of energy per the EPA/Wikipedia [2]. This would mean that a single truck would be burning 70,000 * 10,791 / 33.7 = 22,414,540 gallons of gasoline a year or 61,409 gallons a day. Seems like wild bullshit to me. [1] https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_gallon_equivalent#:~:text=The%20ratings%20are%20based%20on,tests%20simulating%20varying%20driving%20conditions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_gallon_equivalent#:~:....
- throwaway2037 2y ago
  This has got to be one of the greatest retorts I have ever read on HN. Hat tip to you.
- CRConrad 2y ago
  Most trucks -- at least of the kind used for transporting trash to a landfill -- don't burn any gasoline at all. They run on diesel fuel. (But yeah, the original claim still seems orders-of-magnitude off; clearly BS.)
- weaksauce 2y ago
  you should note that a gas engine does not convert all that 33kWh of energy into mechanical energy. a gasoline engine has about a 25% conversion into mechanical energy. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml . diesel might be a bit better than a car but it's city driving by nature. just heat alone is the largest waste product in a car or truck
  - selimthegrim 2y ago
    Only Soviets kept using gas engined trucks and buses past the 50s
    - 2y ago
ericd 2y ago
A 500 hp semi truck engine running at peak power is like 350 kw, so 84 megawatts (84,000 kw) is more than 200 of those engines at full throttle at all times.

Are you confusing MW (power) with MWh (energy)? There's no way that a truck uses more energy, unless it's running 24/7 or something.

486sx33 2y ago
84 Megawatts = 112645.86 Horsepower
- 542354234235 2y ago
  Fast and Furious 12: Too Trash Too Furious

throwup238 2y ago

According to [1] an electric garbage truck traveling 15,000 miles a year uses about 38,960 kWh. An 84 MW power plant produces 84,000 kWh every hour, or enough to power more than two trucks for an entire year. Even if we assume that the diesel equivalent uses a hundred times as much it's still a tiny fraction of what the plant in TFA produces. [1] https://www.oregon.gov/deq/ghgp/Documents/ElectricGarbageTrucks.pdf https://www.oregon.gov/deq/ghgp/Documents/ElectricGarbageTru...

rtkwe 2y ago
Couple issues with that comparison: 15k seemed low given I drive ~10k a year and I don't work a job that uses my car, so I checked refuse trucks drive on average more like 25k miles per year and there are many servicing a single dump. Also most garbage trucks are still diesel so you've got to 5-10x that power usage number and there's all the vehicles used to compact and move the trash once it reaches the landfill which are also (currently) pretty exclusively diesel powered (think bulldozers and soil compactors with some excavators thrown in). https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10309 https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10309
- bluGill 2y ago
  The point is this is free energy - all of the energy sent to the trucks is going to be done either way.
- marcosdumay 2y ago
  So, you use more of that "enough energy to power them for an ear" that your power plant is outputting every hour. There are plenty of hours in an year. You won't get any meaningful problem by complaining about the OP's approximations.

_2d30 2y ago

A single truck requires more energy to operate in a year than 70k homes do!? I find this extremely difficult to believe. As far as I can tell, the EIA [1] suggests the average home uses 10,791 kWh a year. A gallon of gasoline contains ~33.7 kWh of energy per the EPA/Wikipedia [2]. This would mean that a single truck would be burning 70,000 * 10,791 / 33.7 = 22,414,540 gallons of gasoline a year or 61,409 gallons a day. Seems like wild bullshit to me. [1] https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_gallon_equivalent#:~:text=The%20ratings%20are%20based%20on,tests%20simulating%20varying%20driving%20conditions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_gallon_equivalent#:~:....

throwaway2037 2y ago
This has got to be one of the greatest retorts I have ever read on HN. Hat tip to you.
CRConrad 2y ago
Most trucks -- at least of the kind used for transporting trash to a landfill -- don't burn any gasoline at all. They run on diesel fuel. (But yeah, the original claim still seems orders-of-magnitude off; clearly BS.)
weaksauce 2y ago
you should note that a gas engine does not convert all that 33kWh of energy into mechanical energy. a gasoline engine has about a 25% conversion into mechanical energy. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml . diesel might be a bit better than a car but it's city driving by nature. just heat alone is the largest waste product in a car or truck
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Only Soviets kept using gas engined trucks and buses past the 50s
  - 2y ago

ericd 2y ago

A 500 hp semi truck engine running at peak power is like 350 kw, so 84 megawatts (84,000 kw) is more than 200 of those engines at full throttle at all times.