Energy- The Stuff That Keeps Us Going
Sure, it's fun to go outside and play on a sunny day, but did you know that the sun is a powerful source of energy - energy that plants, animals, even people need to survive? There are lots of other sources of energy too, but what is energy exactly? Let's find out!
What is energy?
In the strictest terms, energy is said to be "the capacity to do work." Physicists define work as moving something by applying a force or pushing something some distance. An example of work would be pushing a grocery cart - energy would be the amount of force exerted to push the cart down the aisle at the grocery store. But energy isn't just for moving things - it is the ability to change something. We use energy to change where we are, change things into food, change raw materials into things we use. We also use energy to change the environment around us by heating or cooling our homes.
- Fossil Fuels
- The sun we see up in the sky and that gives energy to the plants around us today, is what gave energy to plants millions of years ago. Just like plants of today, they photosynthesized the sunlight into chemical energy for their own use. Animals used the sunlight too. When the plants and animals died, the action of heat from the Earth's core and pressure from rock and soil fossilized the chemical energy stored in their bodies. This stored energy was transformed into coal, oil, and natural gas - our "fossil fuels."
- Hydroelectric
- Most of our electricity in the northwest comes from hydroelectric plants that harness the energy of water flowing in rivers and streams from the mountains down to the ocean. The sun adds energy by lifting the water from the ocean up into the clouds, turning it to ice crystals, and letting it fall on the mountain tops as snow. This process is called evaporation.
- Nuclear
- Uranium and plutonium, which are used in nuclear power plants, were created in the hearts of ancient stars. Long ago the earth, sun, and all of the planets were one big ball of matter. That matter came from ancient stars that had exploded, scattering their atoms into space. The planets were formed when the big ball of matter spun so fast that it threw chunks of itself out into space. The earth, of course, was one of these chunks and still contains matter from those original stars in the form of uranium and plutonium, which we mine. Nuclear power plants work by breaking apart these very large elements. This splitting process (fission) creates heat, which is used to create electricity.
- Wind-power
- As the sun heats up the air, some rises and some settles, producing large air masses of different densities which move around each other. These moving air masses are called wind, which makes windmills turn.
- Solar
- At IslandWood we have solar panels on the sleeping lodges that harness the sun's energy to heat water for showers. Our classrooms have photovaltic (PV) panels that will turn sunlight (photons) directly into electric energy (volts). This is accomplished when the sun's energy excites electrons in the PV panel and moves them to other parts of the panel. Electrons, moving, or passing energy to each other, is how electricity is made.
What is renewable energy?
An energy source that we can use over and over again. Renewable energy sources include solar energy, geothermal energy from inside the earth, biomass from plants, and hydropower from water. Nuclear fusion, the source of the sun's energy, uses small atoms such as hydrogen to create energy. If we can figure out how to harness the energy of nuclear fusion safely here on earth, we'd have all the energy we'd every need.
What is non-renewable energy?
An energy source that we are using up and cannot recreate in a short period of time. In the United States, we get most of our energy from nonrenewable energy sources - mostly fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal).
Nuclear fission created in nuclear power plants is also not renewable. Elements used in nuclear fission such as uranium are in limited supply.
Where do we get energy?
Do you know where our energy comes from?
Puget Sound Energy - the area's largest provider of electricity - reported the following sources for it's energy for the year 2003 - the most recent year with certified data.
Puget Sound Energy Sources
| Source | Percentage |
|---|
| Hydro | 42.5% |
| Coal | 34.4% |
| Natural Gas Cogeneration | 17% |
| Natural Gas | 4.3% |
| Petroleum | .1% |
| Nuclear | .9% |
| Waste | .6% |
| Biomass | .2% |
| Landfill Gas | .1% |
All of these energy sources provide us the energy we need to live our busy ways. Think of the many ways YOU create, use, and save energy!
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