Ken Livingstone, The Mayor of London, from an interview:

Q: ...the [national] government [is] talking in terms of nuclear. Does locally generated energy change the whole structure of the grid?

A: We don't want the normal grid. We want to get everybody off grid. It doesn't matter if it's nuclear or gas, 65 per cent of energy is wasted in the cooling system. If we have locally done energy it's 15 per cent. So immediately, if we could wave a magic wand and all of Britain's energy was coming from local sources you'd reduce your fossil-fuel consumption by 50 per cent. Just being efficient

Directions: Under the assumption that the claims above are true, would the "50% reduction in [energy]" that London's Mayor Ken Livingstone claimed, be correct? Calculate and check carefully. If assigned for write-up, you are to hand in a typed very clearly-explained analysis, step by step calculation, and precise concluding statement(s).

Suggestion: We are asked: what happens if we want to supply [the UK, or London, or some area] with the same total energy under traditional centralized Grid versus under Locally-Generated power: "How much less initial or "input) energy (some of which will be wasted before it reaches its point-of-usage) would be needed under the localized energy scheme?" is what we need to find out. Suggested steps to help you analyze this problem follow. The final answer can be obtained in fewer steps, but additional steps, particularly 1. through 4., are added to help you make sense of the problem set-up. Answer:

1) If 65% is wasted then 35% of the net energy is not wasted, under the centralized energy scheme. 2) What about the localized energy? 3) For every 100 units of input energy, how many units of usable energy would we get under Grid? 4) For every 100 units of input energy, how many units of usable energy would be have under loc. gen. (local generation)? 5) Now, for every 1 unit of useable energy, how many units of input energy would we need under Grid? and 6) For every 1 unit of useable energy, how many units of input energy would we need under loc. gen.? 7) Your answer for parts 6 and 7 will allow you to calculate what percent of the higher Grid input-energy requirements, the smaller Loc-Gen input-energy requirements are, and thus you'll be able to also state 8) What percent decrease is applied in going from the input-energy requirements for Grid setup, to the input-energy requirements of an alternative, Loc-Gen energy system?