ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area NC trying to ban sales of Tesla cars

The numbers I hear being tossed about, state approximately 1/3 of the heat initially created ends up being electricity. In North America that seems about right with respect to commercial nuclear power plants. 300 MWthermal = 100MWelectric.

I "think" the net loss from power plant to consumer runs about 10% but I have nothing to back that claim up.

That is the question I can't really nail down. I see lots of estimates but I have to believe there must be hard numbers out there. The power companies know how much they generate and what gets billed but I suspect they don't what us to know that some companies make more money brokering power than actually selling it or generating it.
When you read articles about how hot big power lines run, it makes it clear a lot of power is simply radiated into space from I2R losses.