What is the percent energy conversion efficiency of these energy sources? Please...?

Question

I'm having a little trouble finding some data regarding the efficiency of different energy sources. All I need is some rough percentages of their efficiencies and sources where you got them.

This includes solar, wind, fusion, fission, fossil fuels (like petroleum, coal and natural gas), biomass, geothermal.

thanks so much

Answer 1

Solar panels convert at optimum right now between 20-33% of the potential energy.

Petroleum products range from 65 to 80% efficiency for the use of the potential energy.

As for the others, I can not find data on them, but I do know that a key to any form of energy is sustainability and by products. Thus far, I think the best forms of energy are solar, kinetic (hydroelectric, compressed air etc), hydrogen and nuclear in that order.

Answer 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PVeff...

shows "Sharp" cells at 15%, and I take this to be about what *commercially available* cells could do.  

Another measure of efficiency is Energy Return On Energy Invested (EROEI).  By this measure, a 5% cell could be good, if it is easy to make.  

Solar-thermal technologies (similar to Kramer Junction) can be expected to do about 30%, with no breakthroughs or exotic materials.  

Plants (wood) do about 2%, because they make about 5% converting sun to wood, then 30% of that to convert wood to heat to electricity.  Cogeneration increases efficiency because it uses the waste heat from electrical generation.  Recent rumors have that algae much more efficient than land plants.  

Fusion cannot produce enough energy to keep itself going.  EROEI is way less than 1.  

Fission converts about 30% of a tiny fraction of the mass of special nuclear materials to electricity.  The other 70% is heat.  

Fossil fuels and are basicly plants that have been stored a long time (see above).   Biofuels (biomass) have not been stored so long.  

GeoThermal increases the efficiency of electricity by pulling heat from the ground or storing it there.  It is not so much an energy source as a way of virtually putting a structure underground, where it is more insulated.  

http://www.eroei.com/eroei/evaluations/n...

has an EROEI table.