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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index
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To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (162883)11/8/2008 3:03:56 PM
From: neolibRead Replies (2) of 306849
 

The problem with automobiles is a small energy conversion plant, such as a gasoline engine, is very inefficient compared with a large conversion plant like an electrical power plant. The switch from inefficient distributed power plants to efficient centralized plants has been held back by good storage devices.

It turns out that modern small diesel engines are about on par with large stationary thermal plants at energy conversion (high 40's low 50% efficiency). This is why if you live in a cold climate, where heating is typical for a significant fraction of the year, a small household diesel cogen system which produces electricity, but also heats your water, and provides building heat, is actually a very efficient system. In addition, with centralized thermal plants and distributed power consumption, the transmission system and conversion efficiencies become significant, whereas it is pretty cheap to haul liquid fuels around to local stations.
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