22-04-2018, 10:48 PM
Refugee raises an interesting question - 'coal transported to the point of use...'
If you define 'point of use' as the point where the energy is required, one extreme is transport it as coal, efficiently on rails, to very close to the point of use, burn it in a power station, get the electricity available with virtually no distribution losses at the point of use. The other extreme is to build the power station at the coal mine, so there's no transportation of coal, no railway needed - and the electricity itself then gets to the point of use by long wires.
Which, I wonder, is the most energy-efficient?
I also like the solar-charging of the lawnmower batteries where the grass growth and battery energy are in a relatively constant ratio. Very elegant, and good thinking!
If you define 'point of use' as the point where the energy is required, one extreme is transport it as coal, efficiently on rails, to very close to the point of use, burn it in a power station, get the electricity available with virtually no distribution losses at the point of use. The other extreme is to build the power station at the coal mine, so there's no transportation of coal, no railway needed - and the electricity itself then gets to the point of use by long wires.
Which, I wonder, is the most energy-efficient?
I also like the solar-charging of the lawnmower batteries where the grass growth and battery energy are in a relatively constant ratio. Very elegant, and good thinking!
