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Understanding Energy Efficiency Principles

The document discusses energy efficiency and the principle of conservation of energy. It defines efficiency as the ratio of useful output energy to total input energy. Decreasing fuel input to a system will decrease its useful output but not necessarily increase its efficiency. Examples are provided to illustrate efficiency calculations for different systems.

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Shahzeb Adnan
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69 views1 page

Understanding Energy Efficiency Principles

The document discusses energy efficiency and the principle of conservation of energy. It defines efficiency as the ratio of useful output energy to total input energy. Decreasing fuel input to a system will decrease its useful output but not necessarily increase its efficiency. Examples are provided to illustrate efficiency calculations for different systems.

Uploaded by

Shahzeb Adnan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Power and efficiency

The Principle of Conservation of Energy does not say that the amount of energy in a given
energy store (e.g. internal) is constant.

Remember that the efficiency of a system is the ratio of its useful output energy transfer (or
power) to its total input energy transfer (or power). Decreasing the amount of fuel we supply
to a car will also decrease its useful output energy transfer; it will not increase its efficiency
(in other words, the same fraction of the energy supplied will be dissipated).

Efficiency equals useful energy output divided by total energy input, so the answer here is
320 ÷ 400 = 0.8 (as a decimal) which is equal to 80% (as a percentage).

Useful energy output = efficiency times total energy input, so the answer here is 0.2 × 10,000
W = 2,000 W = 2 kW.

Here, 70% if the 300 J supplied to the toothbrush is transferred to its (useful) kinetic energy
store. This means that 30% of the energy supplied is dissipated (or ‘wasted’), and 30% of
300 J is equal to 90 J. Another way of reaching this answer is to calculate the useful energy
output (0.7 x 300 = 210 J) and then to subtract this value from 300 (300 – 210 = 90 J).

The greater the difference in temperature between the interior and exterior of a building, the
greater the rate of heat transfer from it. This explains which your home heating system has
to work extra hard during cold weather!

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