The ONLY form of wealth is cheap energy. Human muscle power from the food we eat is worth less than $0.50 a DAY. everything that has ever been done has been by human (slave) muscle power.
each american man woman and child, has the equivalent of roughly 100 "energy slaves"
The details vary but the limiting efficiency for transfer of heat to mechanical work for ANY
heat engine is given by one of the laws of thermodynamics.
all engine take heat at a temperature "T in" in Absolute units and exhaust at "T out"
there must be an exhaust at some background Temp usually around boiling water
There is a formula something like (T i - T o)/ T i. I keep forgetting
In any case the efficiency depends on the highest T
In the diesel the highest T is higher than gasoline and also the process for transferring heat is more thermodynamically efficient.
you get the most energy per dollar cost for diesel
Automobiles are FAR FAR from maximum possible efficiency for many reasons.
there have been vehicles that get over 1000 miles per gallon
MyPriss hybrid gets over 45 mpg and could be easily be improved.
the biggest short term gains can come from conservation, improved energy efficiency and better processes.
Almost all our energy comes from the sun but less than 1,000,000 th of 1% actually reaches the earth
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