Anatomy of Inefficiency
Waste and lost energy in generation, transmission, and use, is all too common the modern industrial economy. Imagine filling up a water glass and then dumping sixty percent of the contents before you took a drink. Or imagine scraping fifty per cent of the food off your plate each night before eating dinner. Would you be apalled at waste? I would.
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About the Author
Dan Denning is the author of 2005's best-selling The Bull Hunter (John Wiley & Sons). Dan draws on his network of global contacts from his base in Melbourne. He’s the managing editor of resource newsletter Diggers and Drillers and the editor of The Daily Reckoning Australia.
Comment by Ken on 1 February 2007:
I think it's important to clarify:
1. More than 50% of the *total energy* used to produce electricity is wasted.
2. Most of that is not electrical losses.
Actually, most of it is due to the fact that most electricity is generated from heat, and a heat engine necessarily has less than a 100% efficiency. The most efficient *legal/safe* nuclear plant in the US is about 38% efficient. No current turbine-driven power plant is more than 60% efficient at generating electricity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_cycle#Efficiency_of_CCGT_plants