A power plant has been proposed that would make use of a temperature gradient of the ocean. The system is to operate between 20.0 Celsius and 5.0 Celsius. What is the maximum efficiency of such a system?Also, if the power plant actually operates at an efficiency of 4.00%, and the useful output of the plant is 75.0MW, how much energy is absorbed per hour.
Applying Carnot to your engine indicates an efficiency (T-To)/T of about 5.1% which would be the maximum attainable according to fundamental thermodynamics. It's quite surprising then, that a number as high as 4% could be achieved in reality, but so be it! The energy input to the plant per hour is 75 x 10^6 x 25 x 3600 Joules = 6.75 Terajoules
