Question

Why is it important to have energy conversion efficiency in our lives and our world?

Answer 1

Energy conversion efficiency (?) is the ratio between the useful output of an energy conversion machine and the input, in energy terms. The useful output may be electric power, mechanical work, or heat. As the energy and its resources are limited on earth we live on, so they must be used in a way to attain maximum energy conversion efficiency.

The bulk of energy consumption in the world is in the utilization for lighting, cooling, transportation, industrial applications, water production and consumer applications. All these will benefit from improved efficiency in the energy conversion process. In lighting, discharge-arc lamps can be improved by more energy-efficient ballasts while in the long run, solid-state lighting systems based on LED and electroluminescence can deliver even better efficiencies. Better design of variable-speed motor drives is the key to more energy-efficient air-conditioning and refrigeration. Vast amount of electrical energy is required in modern electric railways and also increasingly in automotives as vehicles are moving towards greener hybrid designs. Research into more energy-efficient power converters, electric motors and power integrated circuits can greatly benefit the transportation sector. Manufacturers of switch-mode power supplies used in data storage, computing and telecommunication equipment are always in search of more energy-efficient power semiconductor devices and converter topologies. Clean water production is another vital process which consumes vast amount of energy, and energy efficiency in this process is very important.