Download As the great debate on energy conservation continues in the political

As the great debate on energy conservation continues in the political arena, conserving
energy has become one of off the biggest challenge we face today along with finding ways to use
less energy. There are lots people seating at home or in an office right now that is not by any
means wondering if they are doing everything possible to conserve energy. If anything, in the
average American household right now there is a television playing, a computer running and a
working fridge in their kitchen. You can also consider the numerous other electronics devices at
home or at work that we just believe we can’t live without that needs electricity to function.
Although most scientist idea of describing energy differs they all agree on one specific
definition for energy being; the ability to do work. Dr. Sallie Baliunas an astrophysicist sees
energy as a mathematical idea rather than a physical block. The mathematical idea being that
energy can’t be created or destroyed. The mathematical idea is that there is an equation that says
watch the process of all the work being done going into it and all the work being done out of it.
You are likely to see the energy stay the same as long as you very carefully count up all the
energy in all its different forms. According to the late physicist Dr. Phillip Morrison who passed
away in 2005, he sees energy as something real, but also abstract. Abstract because it is not tied
to one single thing. It’s only tied to one way of measurement that’s a different way of looking at
things. Energy is real because we continue to use it and it’s vital to our survival.
Energy comes in different forms like heat (thermal), light (radiant), and motion
(Kinetic), electrical, chemical, nuclear energy and gravitational. There is two types of energy as
well as different sources of energy. Two types of energy, one being stored which is potential
energy and working also known as Kinetic energy. There is two specific sources of energy,
renewable and nonrenewable. A renewable energy source would be one that can easily be
replenished for use while nonrenewable as you can already guest means we cannot reuse or
recreate for use. Renewable energy sources for example would be hydropower, wind, biomass
and geothermal. Some nonrenewable sources for example would be from fossil fuels like coal,
crude oil, natural gas and uranium. Nonrenewable energy formed over millions of years ago and
it would take millions of years to see another fresh supply.
The sun is the source of all energy on the earth, and because the sun is a direct source we
cannot control or touch, scientist have invented renewable sources they can use to harness the
sun’s energy. The sun has been creating energy for billions of years to plants through
photosynthesis. Scientist have now duplicated that process capturing the suns energy and using it
for solar power. A perfect example of this is seen in the use of solar panel which is also called
photovoltaic cells made from semiconductor materials that when sunlight hits the panel cells it
goes through a process that stores and generate electricity. At a solar thermal power plant they
would be doing this on a much bigger scale, trying to find ways to concentrate the energy from
the sun into different heat sources for use on a more general level that many more people can
benefit. Solar panels is more of a personal choice because of the expense one would have to
endure in order to “go green” as they are calling it.
Most of our energy that we use come from burning fossil fuels. The three major fossil
fuels we use today are coal, oil and natural gas formed from organic remains of prehistoric plants
and animals over millions of years. Oil along with natural gas is found in similar areas under the
sea bed. Natural gas is found much deeper under the sea bed than oil. Coal of course is found in
cold reserves, which can be found in almost every part of the world.
Going back to the definition of energy we understand that scientist more or less believe
that in order for energy to be used work must be done, using some kind of force. Dr. Peter
Weyand explained that scientist considers work to be moving a force to a distance. Work = force
x distance moved. Doing work can convert one energy into another form, for instance, a
combination of work and energy can create potential energy, which is stored up and can be
added to things, and when that energy is release we get Kinetic energy (motion). Between the
processes some energy will be lost even if you don’t feel it or see it. Sound and heat can also
come from work and energy. In pretty simple terms, work is a way of converting energy from
one system to another and power is the rate at which that energy is converted from one system to
another.
For every source of energy a chemical or mechanical source is needed to turn it into
usable energy. Today most of Americans uses electricity which comes from a thermal power
plant. Natural gas, coal, biomass, and uranium are used to heat water until it produces steam
which powers the turbines that generate electricity. Steam is efficient because the water can be
used and reused and it is not harmful to the environment. Our nonrenewable sources of energy
that we use however are a danger to the atmosphere by releasing large amounts of Co2 (which
reminds me of the first assignment on understanding global warming since it all relates)
The demand for the use of energy has grown considerably high over the years and still
continues to grow. Just take for instance a summer or winter in New York City. We need heat
most of the winter and the cool air from an air condition during the summer. I always listen to
the news broadcast on the amount of energy that is being used during any given summer and
what would happen eventually if everyone is using the same amount of energy at the same time.
Too much or too little power can cause the generators to crash and cause blackouts even if there
is an electrical grid and substations to break down the voltage.
Energy happens in cycles of motions that repeat themselves over and over. It is a process
of exchange, stored and released. What happens to energy was seen in video 4 when Dr. Charles
Whitney explained how a pendulum works. The motion of a swinging pendulum goes from
elastic potential energy to Kinetic energy. Stored energy keeps the pendulum moving forward
and back. Another example was walking where gravitational potential energy is turned into
kinetic energy. It’s called gravitational for walking because we touch the ground and back into
the air like a kangaroo bouncing.
Food is a source of energy that is used by humans as well as animals. It all starts with
photosynthesis. The plants gets its energy from the sunlight, animals eat the plants and we of
course eat both plants and animals. When we eat and digest, food is then broken down by the
acid in the stomach into molecules that turns into nutrients. Atom and molecules are absorbed in
our blood stream, while oxygen helps break down molecules to help release energy. Respiration
releases energy. We use energy for all of our life functions. As mammals we maintain a constant
body temperature. We need energy to maintain the function of all our bodies’ organs, growth and
repair when something goes wrong. Energy is required for thinking, for our brains to send and
receive nerve signals to and from the other organs. While we eat food we also have to remember
some molecules store more fat giving that food more energy. This can be seen in the form of
calories (the amount of energy that would be released) when that product is consumed.
The total energy in the universe does not increase or decrease. When one thing loses
energy something else around it gains that energy. Scientist believes that any missing energy can
be accounted for by finding all of the energy that transfers out of the system, even if they are not
obvious at first. They also believe that everything has a system, which is like a boundary keeping
energy inside it. There are different types of system and a system is a group of things that
interact with each other. For example; a power plant is a system, energy is measured by a meter
into kilowatts and of course that energy is then transferred to our homes broken down by other
systems along the way. A food chain is another system, food goes in and energy comes out. A
hurricane is also another example of a system and in this case one that can be very dangerous.
Water vapor turns into heat which drives it to have a mechanical output the wind, which can
easily turn catastrophic.
In order to understand energy we must understand the law of conservation of energy,
energy resources and the importance of alternative sources of energy. The bulk of our energy as
seen in video 8 comes from 35% crude oil, 25% coal, 22% natural gas, and 8% nuclear, 6%
renewable sources including hydroelectricity. That energy is then used in this pattern 52% by
businesses and industries, 27% transportation and 21% in homes. Annual consumption of oil and
natural gas have quadrupled as mentioned in the video in a single generation. The rate of use will
continue and the cost can’t be measured in money because the environment suffers as well. The
more fossil fuel burns the more polluted our air becomes, and the more we breathe in this
polluted air the sicker we become. A popular alternative source of energy is wind power. It’s a
suitable low carbon form of energy. Apart from solar power it is the fastest growing form of
electrical energy. The cost to hornets wind power is very expensive in setting up wind turbines.
Location is also a huge factor because you want to have somewhere that you know the wind is
always a constant even if it blows at a certain speed. Water power is another alternative source
which is used in the production of hydroelectricity.
Each video 1 to 8 was almost one hour long and boring. You asked! I understand that the
videos were designed for children to understand all about energy. How it works, what it does,
what it can be used for, how it is used, and nonrenewable and renewable energy sources. What I
liked most about the videos is the integration of classroom students showing how they
understood whatever experiment they were doing on energy. What I did not like was the length
of the videos. Children from my experience, half way through and hour of anything unless it’s
highly interesting tend to forget what they are looking at or retain much information. The
experiment with burning cashew nuts, having the energy (heat) move the fan was something I’ve
never seen or heard about before and wanted to try myself.
When we look at “Sustainable Energy –without the hot air” A synopsis by David J.C
Mackay we get to have a closer look at energy consumption based on an individual use.
According to Mackay “We have an addiction to fossil fuels, and it’s not sustainable. The
developed world gets 80% of its energy from fossil fuels; Britain, 90%.” (p.1) and that’s just
from using energy that cannot be created over our lifetime and would eventually run out one day.
As pointed out in the article, something we have heard over and over, the burning of these fossil
fuels is dangerous to our climate.
Dr. Mackey looks at a number of options in his book that would not totally replace fossil
fuels right away, but would come close enough that our carbon footprint would be smaller.
Dr. Mackay introduces his ideas on how we can get out of our addiction to fossil fuel,
and in doing so hope we can have plans put in place that adds up, not just for right now, but for
our future that would be reusable. What I liked right off the bat was the fact that he took the
chance to break down energy consumption on an individual level and not just about the country
on a whole. For someone like me reading this synopsis it was clear to see that what we consume
today is far higher than what would be produced per person if we were just using renewable
energy sources. We clearly have a higher demand for energy and our perspective should change
if want to save the planet. Dr. Mackay is not asking the world to completely stop using fossil
fuels, but instead asking the world to implement more renewable sources on a personal level as
well. We can’t just seat back, turn on every electronic device at home and wait for the
government to ride in on a white horse to save the planet. Change start one individual at a time,
in this case many more at a time.
Part 2 of Sustainable Energy without the hot air explores six of Dr. Mackay suggestions
on how to eliminate the gap we have between consumption and renewable energy production. He
suggested we look at these options closely; population reduction (is he trying to say have less
kids?), lifestyle change, changing to more efficient technology, sustainable fossil fuel (clean
coal), Nuclear power (he did not suggest ways on disposal, considering its danger), and of course
living on renewable energy sources from other countries. He talked about other sources of
energy like wind, solar, hydroelectric among others in table 4 on page 4, and how much power is
actually produced using these renewable sources country sized.
The good the bad and the ugly as pointed out in this article looked closely at things we
already have in use like “hydrogen-powered vehicles which uses 254 kWh per 100km more
energy than fossil fuel vehicles which use about 80 kWh per 100km,both are marketed as safe
for the environment. In contract to electric vehicles that uses ten times less energy 20kwh per
100km or even 6kWk per 100km”(p.7) Can you tell from Dr. Mackay break down which vehicle
is most environmentally friendly? Earlier I mentioned how much energy we may use in NY
alone during the winter when everyone relies on heat to keep warm. Here we see that if we can
one day use heat pumps we could eventually conserve more energy and be happy at the same
time. From the article “heat pumps are back to front refrigerators. Powered by electricity, they
pump heat into the building from the outside-either from the air, or from the ground.” I would
personally love to see how this works. It was developed in Japan and according to Mackay it has
“ a coefficient of performance of 4.9; this means that using 1kWh of electricity, the heat pump
delivers 4.9kWh of heat in the form of hot air or hot water.” (p.8). He continues to break down
his point in such a way that anyone reading his book should walk away with a better
understanding of energy use, consumption and what we all can do and truly say we are saving
the planet. After reading this I can thumbs up to Dr. Mackay for letting me know whether I
unplug my charger or not it really makes no big difference.