Right on the mark, John. If you go to the link provided in Stan's paper,
that issue is addressed very clearly.
Jim
John M. Steele wrote:
In many cases, that comparison of average annual power to nameplate
power is what needs to be talked about. Alternatively, capacity hours
can be talked about, hours at name-plate capacity required to generate
the annual energy output.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* James R. Frysinger <[email protected]>
*To:* U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>
*Cc:* U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>; gmail aaj
<[email protected]>
*Sent:* Mon, June 7, 2010 1:47:50 PM
*Subject:* [USMA:47542] Re: One unit only
Dear Pat,
Note that Stan wrote:
> Notice that I am using the unit watt (W) here and throughout the
treatise. That unit is both familiar and shorter than others that one
could select to express the annual average energy usage.
Rather than reporting on the amounts of energy used annually, he
reported on the average rate of energy use, that average being taken
over a year's span. The wording of that could have been a bit more clear
to make that point, I suppose.
Stan's approach is laudable. One hears of electrical power plants,
various generators (diesel, wind, PV etc.) in terms of their rated power
production. This makes it easier to "add up" those numbers for
comparison. One never hears of the amount of energy produced each year
by the neighboring power plant, just its power rating or average power
output over some period.
Jim
Pat Naughtin wrote:
> Dear Stan,
>
> It seems really odd to me that engineers, who probably know much
better, are using a power unit when they are referring to energy.
>
> As far as I know power and energy were clearly distinguished as two
quite separate and distinct physical realities late in the 1700s or
early in the 1800s (I would like to have an exact date but this is the
best I can do at present).
>
> As you know the unit for energy in the International System of Units
(SI) is the joule (symbol J) and the unit for power in SI is the watt
(symbol W). It makes no sense at all to me to pretend you are talking
about energy when you are trying to describe it with the SI unit for power.
>
> You will recall that I am really concerned about this issue because
until journalists and politicians are able to comprehend the nature of
energy and how to measure it, we have no chance that they might begin to
comprehend issues such as 'global warming', 'climate change', or 'the
end of oil' as these are, in essence energy issues, and not power issues.
>
> My approach is to use the SI unit, joule, only, and to use it with an
appropriate prefix to give whole number amounts. See the short article
at http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/AWordAboutGlobalWarming.pdf
for an example of how I use the energy unit, joule.
>
> Cheers,
> Pat Naughtin
>
> On 2010/06/07, at 10:17 , Stanislav Jakuba wrote:
>
>> I am attaching an energy article that is distinguished for using
only one unit, the watt (W), throughout. That units was selected as it
is both familiar everywhere, incl. in the US, and shorter than others
that one could select to express the average energy usage. The watt (as
GW) is the only unit need for these kinds of global statistics, and
using it exclusively enables immediate comparisons.
>>
>>
>> I do not mean to start a debate about the opinions expressed in the
treatise, although I will certainly read all. Instead, I do hope to
"persuade" everybody in the energy business to settle on this unit for
any kind of energy usage, i.e.power, anywhere in the world instead of
the plethora of units common in energy related statistics. On the scale
of countries, only one prefix also, the G, suffices.
>>
>>
>> Stan Jakuba
>>
>>
>> <Pacific Gas & E.3USMA.doc>
> Pat Naughtin
> Author of the ebook, /Metrication Leaders Guide,/ that you can obtain
from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html PO
Box 305 Belmont 3216,
> Geelong, Australia
> Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
>
> Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different
trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and
government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's
clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the
metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See
http://www.metricationmatters.com
<http://www.metricationmatters.com/>for more metrication information,
contact Pat at [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> or to get the free
'/Metrication matters/' newsletter go to:
http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
>
-- James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
