Snapshot 2023-1-27
A snapshot during the making of scene 3 in Episode 1 of Season 1. Rex and Brad are making fun of humans who are still sometimes burning coal to generate electricity… “highly inefficient”
The two are scene shoveling coal into a furnace which is generating power to illuminate a single light bulb. The camera pans to see that a hamster on a treadmill is generating the same amount of energy.
“Fossil fuels are the world's primary energy source and account for more than 60% of the electricity generated in the United States. Fossil-fueled power plants provide stability and reliability to the operation of the U.S. power grid. A recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that coal will continue to be the largest source of electricity production in the world by 2040. The U.S. Department of Energy is committed to improving the efficiency, reliability, and performance of the current U.S. coal fleet of fossil-fueled power plants simultaneously addressing flexibility and stability due to renewable penetration, while also advancing technologies that will underpin the coal-fired power plant of the future.
The average coal-fired power plant in the United States operates near 33% efficiency. The Transformative Power Systems Research Program aims to increase the efficiency of existing plants by 5% by 2023 and for new plants by 2027. This will be accomplished by improving the underlying technologies, components, systems, and operations that would incorporate novel sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies within existing plants.” - from energy.gov