Modeled impact of large-scale wind and solar farms in the Sahara

Re:Modeled impact of large-scale wind and solar farms in the... by xyzzyz on Thursday September 06, 2018 @05:21PM (#17929660)

Sure thing. Heating (space + water) represents nearly 80% of EU household energy use[1], compared to 60% in the US[2]. I have no clue what you mean by "heating is efficient compared to AC". In fact, opposite is true -- unless you use some kind of heat pump, which are very uncommon in Europe, you only get exactly one unit of heating per unit of energy consumed. On the other hand, with AC (which _is_ a heat pump), you get something on the order of 5 units of heat (energy) removed per unit of energy consumed.

[1] - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php... [2] - https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=us_energy...

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Re:Modeled impact of large-scale wind and solar farms in the... by skybrian on Thursday September 06, 2018 @06:45PM (#17930281)

This way of thinking about efficiency doesn't take into account gains from insulation and/or reducing unnecessary heating. An electric blanket is more efficient than heating a room, which in turn is more efficient than heating a house.

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