Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A most important graphic

Click to enlarge. Note that, of the roughly 98 quads of energy we start with, we only use about 43, with 55 going to entropic and distribution losses. Also note the tiny, almost microscopic scale of renewables next to polluting/depleting sources like coal (which also form nearly all the energy loss, since entropic losses are caused by high-temp energy transformations).

1 comment:

Emily said...

Cool graphic. That Atlantic does some of the best graphics around for telling stories and hammering home points. They are great ways to get people to understand.