OrionWorks wrote:
In my own defense I believe the 60% (approx) loss was from data you
originally discovered through various government agencies - that you
posted in this discussion group.
60% is how much late-model generators lose. They convert 40% of the
fuel energy into electricity. Nukes and coal plants convert ~33%.
I distinctly recall you correcting me at one point saying that
transmission loss were due to heat loss within the transmission lines.
Well, they show up as heat. But wouldn't it more accurate correct to
say they are due to resistance? Or impedance -- I can never keep
straight what the difference is.
There was a fascinating graphic from Lawrance Livermore National
Laboratory (published in 2001) that you pointed us to titled "U.S.
Energy Flow Trends - 2000, Net Primary Resource Consumption 98.5
Quads." I downloaded the chart.
That's on the last page of http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/NRELenergyover.pdf
It is a wonderful complex system and a magnificent edifice of
civilization, but it will vanish overnight if cold fusion succeeds.
Kind of like the manual dispatching systems used for U.S. railroads
before computers were invented.
The graphic clearly shows "Rejected energy (Electrical system energy
losses)" at 57.8 Quads" and "Useful energy" at 34.3 Quads. Adding
the useful and rejected numbers actually comes to 92.1 Quads.
Dividing 57.8 / 92.1 comes to around a 63 percent loss in electrical energy.
That's for the whole sheebang, not just T&D losses.
- Jed
