Given an on-the-grid, non-solar house, is it more energy efficient to charge your phone in your house or in your car? If there would be a difference for gas-powered and electric vehicles, please explain that as well.
In: Technology
Internal combustion is a pretty inefficient way of generating/capturing energy. It uses little explosions that cause pistons to move, and much of the energy generated by those explosions becomes waste heat. Even if you’re comparing that to a powerplant that also fundamentally operates by burning a fossil fuel, the powerplant will be more efficient because it gets to be big, specialized, and stationary. The alternators that convert some of the car’s energy into electricity are likewise less efficient than the generators used in powerplants.
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