We need to compare apples with apples. If I have a solar panel on my roof, I don't have to pay for power transmission from a desert hundreds/thousands of miles away to my refrigerator. (I also don't have to pay for all those ads on TV or those utility lobbyists.) The utilities love to tell you how efficient their transmission lines are, but neglect to tell you about the _net_ loss for the entire system, including delivery to your refrigerator. (We're not even counting the $$ costs of building & maintaining these transmission lines, the cost in forest fires (many large California fires have been sparked by transmission lines), or the cost to the environment -- including visual pollution -- of these transmission lines.) At 10:41 AM 7/18/2013, meekerdb wrote:
Among other problems, transmission losses from the desert to L.A. will eat up perhaps 50% of the electrical energy.
That's a huge over estimate of the loss. Average loss rate is about 7%, but only a small part of that is the loss due to the long, high voltage lines. Measured transmission line losses are 2% to 3% per 1000Km.