[1] I'm not sure how the other 20W are dissipated. As heat?
I would guess as chemical potential (stored in ATP, manufacturing and converting proteins, endorphins, hormones and other bodily chemicals), electrical signals (nervous system, muscle responses, brain activity) and kinetic energy (blood flow, heartbeats, diaphragm, other internal organ movements). Some of it is probably also internal temperature regulation for different regions of the body, but maybe that's all in the 80W. eventually
[2] "0.6 watts/hour of energy" doesn't typecheck
I ran their numbers, and I think they meant 0.6 kWh (which is a unit of energy, unlike watts/hour) -- 212 hours at 127.2W over all the volunteers, for 37 volunteers is around 0.7kWh per volunteer. Some of their numbers might be more or less accurate than the others
[3] You can give the volunteers some drug to increase the temperature to 40°C (313K, 104°F) while keeping them in a freezing environment 0°C (273K, 32°F) This will increase the maximal theoretical efficiency to 12.7% (that is still much less than 100%). Anyway, no sane ethical committee and/or insurance company would approve the project.
But the robots that will administer our future society while plugging us into the matrix would ;)
About [1] All the energy in the ATP is eventually released. Unless you are gaining weight or doing some mechanical work that is permanent (like lifting boxes to the floor above you) almost all is released as heat. Perhaps some energy is used to evaporate water, this may be important.
About [2]: Thanks for looking at their numbers. But they can't collect an average of 127.2W because the maximal power that can be transformed to electricity in this conditions is about 4W-5W. Also, the article claims that they get less than the 1%, but I'm worry that in the press article they just divided (0.6 watts/hour)/(80W) < 1% (ignoring the units).
Comments
I would guess as chemical potential (stored in ATP, manufacturing and converting proteins, endorphins, hormones and other bodily chemicals), electrical signals (nervous system, muscle responses, brain activity) and kinetic energy (blood flow, heartbeats, diaphragm, other internal organ movements). Some of it is probably also internal temperature regulation for different regions of the body, but maybe that's all in the 80W. eventually
I ran their numbers, and I think they meant 0.6 kWh (which is a unit of energy, unlike watts/hour) -- 212 hours at 127.2W over all the volunteers, for 37 volunteers is around 0.7kWh per volunteer. Some of their numbers might be more or less accurate than the others
But the robots that will administer our future society while plugging us into the matrix would ;)
About [1] All the energy in the ATP is eventually released. Unless you are gaining weight or doing some mechanical work that is permanent (like lifting boxes to the floor above you) almost all is released as heat. Perhaps some energy is used to evaporate water, this may be important.
About [2]: Thanks for looking at their numbers. But they can't collect an average of 127.2W because the maximal power that can be transformed to electricity in this conditions is about 4W-5W. Also, the article claims that they get less than the 1%, but I'm worry that in the press article they just divided (0.6 watts/hour)/(80W) < 1% (ignoring the units).