Originally posted by heliosprime
Your sources are as usual a bit flawed.
I'm not sure what "as usual" means here in relation to myself.
Total distribution losses are not "resistance" alone.
The souce I sited claimed no such thing and was also a nice government document. There are reactive and coronal losses as well. More below.
They also include isolator failures, conductor failures, storms, peak summer ambient temperatures, animal based disruptions, and many more
including generator "brush" overheating.
That is equivocation on the word "losses". One set are economic due to maintenence issues, the other are in terms of actual physical operating
efficiency of the grid ie. losses of actual energy.
www.ferc.gov...
p.55:
Losses depend on a variety of factors, including the physical properties
of transmission facilities, the distance the electricity must travel, and the current use of transmission facilities by others. The costs of system
losses are sometimes included in uplift charges borne equally by all transmission system users, which leads to inefficient use of the
system.
I see a sligtly higher estimate range as well but not anthing that appears of the magnitude you claim, p.78:
Electricity losses in transmission and distribution
systems exceed 10 percent of total electricity generated. Reducing these losses would represent
hundred of millions of dollars in annual savings to the nation’s electricity bill.
Energy Efficiency in the Power Grid says:
p.1
The transmission and distribution or “T&D” system, then, includes everything between a generation plant and an end-use site. Along the way,
some of the energy supplied by the generator is lost due to the resistance of the wires and equipment that the electricity passes through. Most of
this energy is converted to heat. Just how much energy is taken up as losses in the T&D system depends greatly on the physical characteristics of the
system in question as well as how it is operated. Generally speaking, T&D losses between 6% and 8% are considered normal.
and
p.1
T&D losses amounted to 239 million MWh, or 6.1% of net generation. Multiplying that number by the national average retail price of electricity for
2005, we can estimate those losses came at a cost to the US economy of just under $19.5 billion.
It states
net generation but we're still within around the 10% order of magnitude.
So, we're left needing the efficiency of the generating station itself-- output divided by total energy avaiable in fuel source. I feel confident it
won't be low enough bring it all to net 75% loss on large turbines. On a small gasoline portable generator, then yes but that's not part of the
grid.
read this first and learn...
I know extraneous snips at me are intended as a defense mechanism on your part however I am grateful to you for the opportunity to learn more.
Perhaps you want reader that buy any claim you make. Help me out here and show me that the
system has a net
energy loss of 75%. We
aren't talking about the economic impact of someone spilling their coke on the generator. Your citation a big document and I don't have time to do
all 108 pages.
The combined "system" losses are and always have been approx 75% of original generator output.............
Nope, AGAIN I'm failing to find any source besides you making that claim. In fact, resistive losses seem to be the greatest concern at this time. It
is yours, so back it up. This isn't a confrontation. Just show me where any reputable accounting reaches that number. Here! I'm opening an
opportunity to you to show how dumb and ignorant I am.
Edit to add something I should have included:
Ok, the paper I cited did mention efficiency of
traditional coal power plants being typically 30-35% efficient in converting the energy
available in coal to electricity. More efficient technologies are citied as well.
For traditional coal
alone:
eff = (1-.061)*(.30 to .35) = .2817 to .32865 ~= 28.2% to 32.9% overall energy utilization of the fuel based upon this
one type of source in
the worst case but still higher than 25%.
Now to address the original premise and my views:
Does driving an electric car or gasoline hybrid produce much more than smug after
all losses to the wheels are accounted for? That is a
resounding NO with coal generation being about 50% of the power generated. That is with current technology. Modestly increasing coal plant efficiency,
assuming coal continues to play a similarly large part is the best way to change the numbers in favor of electric cars.
What is the goal? Improved efficiency or reduced pollution and environmental damage from extraction and other byproduct? Since this is based mainly
around CO2 it is a scam given is status as a pollutant is dubious. If we had zero-point modules with an endless supply of free, clean joules, then
efficiency would be largely irrelevant.
The best bet in the current situation looks to be clean diesel powered cars which can improve efficiency by 25-30%. Some efficient biofuel process
would go a long way. Will will be hearding about that algae farming process? Hmmm.
[edit on 8/25/2009 by EnlightenUp]
[edit on 8/25/2009 by EnlightenUp]