This lead me to an interesting Google search around engine efficiency. I always knew that engines are imperfect engine transfer devices, but I didn't realize how much is lost.
Seems like in most scenarios you're getting at best 40% energy efficiency in gasoline engines and somewhere between 17% to 40% in steam engines.
Even at 17% efficiency using the sun to generate steam power seems to hold lots of potential. The trick will be to get it working at scale and able to produce a similar level of energy with the same or lower cost as existing technologies. May be a while yet, but it's an exciting time to teach your kids science as this is the kind of stuff that they'll probably see in mass later in life.
This is exactly how large scale solar thermal power stations work.
The most common ones use thousands of mirrors around a central tower. The sun bounces off the mirrors and focuses at the top of the tower where there is a tank of water. The water is heated, boils, turns to steam, which turns a steam turbine.
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This lead me to an interesting Google search around engine efficiency. I always knew that engines are imperfect engine transfer devices, but I didn't realize how much is lost.
Seems like in most scenarios you're getting at best 40% energy efficiency in gasoline engines and somewhere between 17% to 40% in steam engines.
Even at 17% efficiency using the sun to generate steam power seems to hold lots of potential. The trick will be to get it working at scale and able to produce a similar level of energy with the same or lower cost as existing technologies. May be a while yet, but it's an exciting time to teach your kids science as this is the kind of stuff that they'll probably see in mass later in life.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_efficiency
This is exactly how large scale solar thermal power stations work.
The most common ones use thousands of mirrors around a central tower. The sun bounces off the mirrors and focuses at the top of the tower where there is a tank of water. The water is heated, boils, turns to steam, which turns a steam turbine.
Look up BrightSource Ivanpah