On time, information, and energy conservation
Time, information, and energy form a triad: to some degree each can be substituted for the other. Thus energy can be conserved if a process is performed more slowly, and therefore less irreversibly; or it can be conserved if sufficient information is available to monitor the energy-using device or system. This general relation between time, energy, and information is illustrated by analyses of the optimum size of a cooling tower in a power plant and the optimum thickness of thermal insulation. It is shown that lack of information and the desire to save time often lead to designs that use more energy than the thermodynamic minimum. Economic and political limits to energy conservation are not primarily manufactured by the ''system'' but are imposed by basic facts of engineering and by preferences of most people.
- Research Organization:
- Institute for Energy Analysis, Oak Ridge, TN (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- EY-76-C-05-0033
- OSTI ID:
- 6220029
- Report Number(s):
- ORAU/IEA-78-22(R)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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