From: Eugene Leitl (Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Date: Mon Dec 10 2001 - 03:49:52 MST
On Sun, 9 Dec 2001, James Rogers wrote:
> 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?
>
> 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.
Problem is that out actual energy consumption is a far cry from the pure
body metabolism (20 W for the brain). There are considerable
inefficiencies present in our life support (food production,
transportation, air conditioning).
Of course, the energy footprint of the average consumer is more likely to
increase. For every kW less thanks to Segway & Co quite a few 100 kW more
for personal VTOL aircraft, hypersonic flight, orbital shuttles, and the
like. The self-sufficient box on a field is not going to be the rule,
albeit possible.
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