"Del Cecchi" wrote in message
...
Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 4 Jun 2006 09:04:24 -0400, "Bill Kearney"
wrote:


So cite numbers that back it up. The little bit I've seen over the years
clearly shows vehicle consupmtion as the leading consumer of
hydrocarbons.


It's not that hard to do a quick "back of the napkin" analysis: Let's
assume the average household owns two cars and drives them
12,000 miles a year each. Further assuming 18 mpg average
consumption, that's about 1300 gallons per year for transportation.

Let's also assume that the average household uses about 400 kwh per
month in electricity for a total of 4800 kwh per year. It takes about
1 gallon of hydrocarbon fuel to generate 16 kwh at the power plant.
Since the transmission system is only about 25% efficient however
because of line and transformer losses, it really takes about 1 gallon
per 4 kwh, for a total of about 1200 gallons per year.

Those estimates tend to support the assertion that vehicle consumption
uses more fuel, at least at the household level. It will vary widely
from family to family however, and the numbers are fairly close to a
50/50 split.

I have no idea what typical numbers are at the industrial and
commercial level.

The transmission system is only 25% efficient? I might believe 25% loss,
although even that seems high.

--
Del Cecchi
"This post is my own and doesn’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions,
strategies or opinions.”

Maaybe the overall efficiency is 75%, but I have heard there is an about 3%
transmission loss.