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Efficiency of power plants, world total, 2008. Energy conversion efficiency (η) is the ratio between the useful output of an energy conversion machine and the input, in energy terms. The input, as well as the useful output may be chemical, electric power, mechanical work, light (radiation), or heat.
To express the efficiency of a generator or power plant as a percentage, invert the value if dimensionless notation or same unit are used. For example: A heat rate value of 5 gives an efficiency factor of 20%. A heat rate value of 2 kWh/kWh gives an efficiency factor of 50%. A heat rate value of 4 MJ/MJ gives an efficiency factor of 25%.
High efficiency is particularly relevant in systems that can operate from batteries. Inefficiency may require weighing the cost either of the wasted energy, or of the required power supply, against the cost of attaining greater efficiency. Efficiency can usually be improved by choosing different components or by redesigning the system.
The red curve shows the power in the load, normalized relative to its maximum possible. The dark blue curve shows the efficiency η. The efficiency η is the ratio of the power dissipated by the load resistance R L to the total power dissipated by the circuit (which includes the voltage source's resistance of R S as well as R L):
In computing, performance per watt is a measure of the energy efficiency of a particular computer architecture or computer hardware.Literally, it measures the rate of computation that can be delivered by a computer for every watt of power consumed.
In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc.
The heat pump itself can be improved by increasing the size of the internal heat exchangers, which in turn increases the efficiency (and the cost) relative to the power of the compressor, and also by reducing the system's internal temperature gap over the compressor. Obviously, this latter measure makes some heat pumps unsuitable to produce ...
At the low range of capacity factors is the photovoltaic power station, which supplies power to the electricity grid from a large-scale photovoltaic system (PV system). An inherent limit to its capacity factor comes from its requirement of daylight , preferably with a sun unobstructed by clouds, smoke or smog , shade from trees and building ...