MrCheerful wrote:
On 19/10/2019 14:28, JNugent wrote:
On 19/10/2019 11:55, TMS320 wrote:
On 19/10/2019 00:39, JNugent wrote:
On 18/10/2019 22:06, TMS320 wrote:
On 18/10/2019 18:15, JNugent wrote:

Gains from increased efficiency are effectively free.

Well... If you had a car 50 years ago that did 30mpg and you now
have one that does 45mpg, then looking at it your way you get 15
free miles.

That is indeed one way to look at it.

It is the way *you* are looking at it.

I haven't given your made-up scenario more than a second's thought.

Yes, but they [your links] told me nothing and it is irrelevant to
compare old with new.

Is it?

Of course it's irrelevant. Stupid to try to make it so.

You aren't factoring in the wastage.

Numbers...?

See the links I provided.

Nothing to see.

Alternatively, point out any paragraphs that you think describe how
headlamps get "free" electricity.

Reduced wastage (and a lot of electricity generated by the engine
is and has always been wasted) is effectively a cost-free gain.

Some motorikes use a shunt regulator. Cars don't.

Motorikes...

Greek?

How convenient! Nugent can now try to divert away from trying to
describe perpetual motion.

Wastage of the mechanical output of the engine has been reduced by
the move from the old generator to the more efficient alternator. It
means that in addition to, and quite separate from, all the other
improvements in efficiency and utility provided by motor vehicles
today as compared with days gone by*, more electrical power is
provided by the use of even less fuel than was the case previously.

That clearly irks you, but it is still *true* whether you like it or
not. [*When I passed my [first] driving test, not far off fifty years
ago,
you were lucky to get 28 - 30 mpg out of a medium sized car. Today,
my medium sized car gets between 64 and 68 mpg without my having to
strive for it. A larger car I have had available to me over the past
few years does 52mpg easily. And yet some silly people complain that
headlights "use more fuel", despite the fact that vehicles are using
less fuel then ever before and are far more electrically efficient
than they used to be. Some people just want something to whinge
about, clearly.]

In the real world the additional load of headlights on a car
(especially a modern car) would be very hard to measure, and
certainly not discernable tank to tank.

Far more fuel is wasted during the holdups caused by cyclists, not to
mention the additional pollution.

+1