Engine Efficiency: Good or Bad?

By Sarah Carter
Physics 212

http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~allan/engines.html

Ever since the invention of the internal combustion engine, scientists and engineers have worked to increase its

efficiency. As it stands now, the average internal combustion automobile engine only converts roughly 20% of its energy into useful motivational power. Most of the rest is expended through heat loss in various locations.

The intent of this site is to examine whether engine inefficiency is a completely disadvantageous thing. Granted,

it's expensive, wasteful, and causes more pollutants to be released into the atmosphere, but without this inherent heat production, Alaskans and other inhabitants of colder climates would be very unhappy indeed.