
Submission + - New York City to cut emissions 90% by 2050? (urbangreencouncil.org)
The full report is here.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas:
Fuel name CO2 emitted (lbs/106 Btu)
Fuel oil 161
Coal (bituminous) 205
Coal (subbituminous) 213
Coal (lignite) 215
Coal (anthracite) 227
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_combustion_engine#Energy_efficiency:
"most engines retain an average efficiency of about 18%-20%"
From http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_energy_efficiency_of_an_average_coal_powered_plant:
"According to Hans-Dieter Schilling (Energie-Fakten), the average efficiency of all coal power stations in the world currently stand at around 31%"
Mashing those numbers around a bit I get around 900lbs of CO2 per usable MMBTU from diesel (fuel oil, close enough for these rough numbers), vs 700lbs of CO2 per usable MMBTU from coal based electricity. That's not even 1/3 less, far from the 2/3 less they are claiming.
There are extraction/transmission/conversion losses in both cases that could be factored in, but it's hard to see how it could change their math by a factor of two.
Am I missing something obvious?
...I use Colemak. Switching from QWERTY took a few weeks to get back up to 85 wpm, and my wrist forearm fatigue left and never returned.
It's not necessarily faster but it sure is more comfortable, at least for me.
Almost anything derogatory you could say about today's software design would be accurate. -- K.E. Iverson