The tutor examines the idea that internal combustion engines are more efficient in cold weather. An upper limit for efficiency of an internal combustion engine is eff = (Tcombust – Tsurrounding)/Tcombust where Tcombust is the temp of the combustion cylinder …

Physical chemistry: efficiency of internal combustion engine in hot vs cold weather Read more »

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The tutor investigates higher household usage over last year. For Nov11-Jan11, our daily household usage this year was 6kWh above last year. My wife points to the new electric fireplace downstairs as the culprit. More specifically, she means that it’s …

Lifestyle: the Hydro bill Read more »

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The tutor offers an estimate about the price of going solar. In an earlier post , I reported my research findings of possibly 22W per $100 for a residential solar application. Here in BC, according to BC Hydro, the typical …

Residential electricity: poss. cost to go solar Read more »

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The tutor takes a detour from his solar energy series to explain kiloWatt*hour. A kiloWatt*hour means 1 kiloWatt multiplied by 1 hour. (The asterisk means “times.”) A Watt is energy used per second – aka, power. The unit is named …

Residential electricity: what is a kiloWatt*hour (kWh)? Read more »

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