I mean, fine, back in the day when fossil fuels were basically competing with burning every last single tree, fine. But now? When we have actual efficient alternatives from production to use, with negligible losses? Using FF is only profitable because of lobbying & state capture.
Like I always say, dependency on fossil fuels is itself the main product of the last century. Cars being among the worst (best?) example.
PS in first plot, nuclear is multiplied by 3 for "thermal conversion" which is a nonsense convention. So yup, it should be closer to 2.7, if you want to compare directly to hydro, wind and solar.
Yes, and this is why I don‘t like this plot- it makes highly efficient renewables appear smaller than wasteful fossil fuels. And because of that, it is likely to be misinterpreted and leads to the #PrimaryEnergyFallacy
Here is a giant interactive Sankey, which I think needs a tutorial: departmentof.energy
* by Saul Griffith