What’s on the Energy Resources poster
A 6-row table: Source · Efficiency · Note.
Typical generation efficiencies.
- Coal — ~35–40% — Carnot-limited
- Gas (CCGT) — ~55–60% — Combined cycle
- Nuclear — ~33% — Lower steam temperature
- Hydro — ~90% — No thermal step
- Wind — ~35–45% — Betz limit is 59%
- Solar PV — ~15–22% — No thermal step
Hydro and wind avoid the Carnot limit entirely because they convert mechanical energy directly, without a heat engine.
Questions about the Energy Resources poster
- What’s on the Energy Resources poster?
- A 6-row table: Source · Efficiency · Note. Typical generation efficiencies. Coal — ~35–40% — Carnot-limited; Gas (CCGT) — ~55–60% — Combined cycle; Nuclear — ~33% — Lower steam temperature; Hydro — ~90% — No thermal step; Wind — ~35–45% — Betz limit is 59%; Solar PV — ~15–22% — No thermal step. Hydro and wind avoid the Carnot limit entirely because they convert mechanical energy directly, without a heat engine.
- Who is the Energy Resources poster for?
- Energy Resources belongs to the Physics section rather than to a school year, because physical science is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning thermodynamics can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Energy Resources poster?
- Every conversion loses energy as heat. That is thermodynamics, not bad engineering. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Energy Resources belongs on the wall where that physical science work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Energy Resources?
- Entropy, The Gas Laws and Heat Engines sit alongside Energy Resources in the Physics section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.EntropyThe Gas LawsHeat Engines
- Is the Energy Resources poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Energy Resources downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Physics section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Energy Resources poster print at?
- Energy Resources is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Energy Resources loses nothing.Printing guide
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Charts that sit alongside Energy Resources on the same wall.
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