From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Sun Dec 09 2001 - 19:51:23 MST
On 12/9/01 3:44 PM, "Dossy" <dossy@panoptic.com> wrote:
>
> Why should we be looking to create energy sources that are
> more efficient? Wouldn't it be smarter to try and create
> energy consumers that are more efficient?
Because we are pretty close to the upper bounds of energy efficiency from a
physical engineering standpoint. We aren't even vaguely close to the upper
bounds of energy production. Therefore, it is a hell of a lot easier to
generate a lot more energy than it is to squeeze a few more percentage
points on the efficiency side.
There are some systemic improvements that would improve efficiency (e.g.
distributed power rather than centralized in certain cases), but the basic
technologies are quite efficient. There is only so much you can do in town
when Thermodynamics is the Sheriff.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
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