![]() ![]() ![]() The energy we need as the end-user is often a small fraction of what goes into the top of the system. But engines also produce heat and noise.Īny energy that is not used specifically for the desired use of an appliance is waste. When we transport electricity from a power plant (secondary energy) to homes (final energy), for example, we lose some while transmitting it through power lines.įinal to useful energy: no appliance is completely efficient in providing only the desired output that we want.įor a lightbulb, the useful energy – what we want – is the light. This is called a ‘transmission and distribution’ loss. Secondary to final energy: we also lose energy in the process of delivering it to the consumer. This is important to know because it can skew our perception of how much of a contribution low-carbon sources make: in primary energy terms they can appear smaller because they are diluted by the wasted energy that comes along with fossil fuel burning. For every three units of energy we put in, you get just one unit of electricity out.īecause primary energy losses are particularly large for fossil fuels, their contribution to energy demand is much higher in primary energy terms compared to the other three ways of measuring energy. In thermal power plants – which convert fossil fuels, biomass or nuclear into electricity, up to two-thirds of the primary energy is wasted as heat. Primary to secondary energy: the conversion of primary to secondary energy can be very inefficient. The four metrics capture energy losses in the following ways. For a car, it’s the amount of kinetic (movement) energy that is produced.Īs the illustration above showed, at each stage of the energy chain, some energy is lost or wasted. For a lightbulb, it’s the amount of light that is produced. It is the energy that goes towards the desired output of the end-use application. Final energy is what a consumer buys and receives, such as electricity in their home heating or petrol at the fuel pump. Secondary energy includes liquid fuels (such as gasoline and diesel – which are refined oil), electricity, and heat.įinal energy: Once we’ve transported secondary energy to the consumer we have final energy. For example, when we burn coal in a power plant to produce electricity, electricity is a form of secondary energy. Secondary energy: When we convert primary energy into a transportable form we speak of secondary energy. This is the most widely available statistic and very commonly used. This relates to the coal before it has been burned the uranium or the barrels of oil. Primary energy: Primary energy is the energy as it is available as resources – such as the fuels that are burnt in power plants – before it has been transformed. In the visualization, I’ve shown the four stages of the chain and provided examples of this pathway for different products. ![]()
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