[ExI] Lack of interest

The Avantguardian avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com
Tue May 13 22:16:14 UTC 2008


--- John K Clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> "hkhenson" <hkhenson at rogers.com>
> 
> > A kWh is 3.6MJ so the energy in a gallon of gasoline
> > is about 40 kWh.
> 
> I think that figure neatly sums up the enormous difficulty of the task.
> 40 kWh is a trivial amount of energy by fossil fuel standards but it is
> NOT trivial by solar energy standards.
> I do not believe there are
> many solar-electric installations that can produce 40 kWh even from
> noon to 1PM on a clear day. The ones that exist are certainly not cheap!
> 
> And all for one lousy gallon of gas.

Yes but a typical modern internal combustion engine only uses gasoline about
20% efficiently so really you are only getting 8 kWh out of your gallon of gas.
The rest is just wasted as heat which is a shame since 32 kWh is a lot of
energy. But at least homeless people can stay warm during the winter by camping
near freeways.




Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"Life is the sum of all your choices."  
Albert Camus


      



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