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A comment on The Last Great Steam Car (2006). Parent comment

Re:The Last Great Steam Car (2006) by steve19 on Friday July 17, 2015 @01:37PM (#9903936)
If it were that simple we would have unlimited free energy by simply using heat pumps to power steam turbines.

I don't think heat pumps can generate very high temperatures efficiently.

Resistive heating is 100% efficient by definition. There is almost no energy lost. the only loss of energy is light generated.

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Re:The Last Great Steam Car (2006) by ryanstanton on Friday July 17, 2015 @02:33PM (#9904392)
Resistive heating is 100% efficient, yes, but the electricity required to power the element is rarely above 40% efficient for most combustion powered sources (combustion turbines, combined cycle, etc.).
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Re:The Last Great Steam Car (2006) by maxerickson on Friday July 17, 2015 @02:23PM (#9904319)
The thermal losses at the power plant are kind of a bummer.

(My vague understanding is that heat pumps are not cost competitive with natural gas for winter heating)

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