W
WftRight
Guest
One of the things that I remember from college is that energy is neither destroyed or created. Energy only changes form. I believe that's the first law of thermodynamics, but I've long since forgotten first, second, third and that stuff. Later Einstein came along and said that what was really constant was matter and energy. In other words, energy could be created from matter by nuclear reaction and matter could likewise be created from energy if we had the right tools.
The point of this little trip down scientific memory lane is that I always have to laugh when I hear people talk about needing to increase our use of solar energy. If we really analyze things, most of the energy that mankind has used throughout history has been solar energy. The only difference has been conversion process.
Let's look at the first humans coming down from the trees and walking along the savannah (or created in Eden or swimming in an ancient sea as the aquatic ape theory insists). These people derived their transportation from their feet. The source of energy was their food, mostly fruits and seeds. Their tools were made by their own hands. The source of energy to run these hands was again their food. Where did these fruits and seeds get energy? Did they magically make energy from nothing? No, the energy of these foods came from the sun. Plants used photosynthesis to turn this solar energy into the chemical energy of carbohydrates that humans can digest into sugars that give us energy. The energy from these fruits and seeds never led to a pollution problem because there were too few humans to leave enough waste in one spot to create a pollution problem.
As man advanced, we began to use fire as source of energy to provide heat for cooking our food, keeping ourselves warm, and shaping tools. Where does the wood get the energy that releases when the wood burns? Does the wood magically produce this energy from nothing? No, the energy in the wood fibers again came from the sun. Again, the photosynthesis produced the organic structure of the tree, and these organic molecules release heat on burning. For many years, burning wood never led to pollution problems again because there were too few people to burn enough wood to cause pollution. Eventually, burning wood did make pollution in some of the big cities.
The story continues with the horse. We learned to use horses and oxen to provide the muscle for our transportation. Again, they got their energy from grasses and grains, and the grasses and grains got energy from the sun. As most people know, horses eventually produced horrible pollution problems. The automobile was first seen as a solution to the problem of horse manure filling our streets.
We developed the use of coal and oil. The story is the same. The energy that we are using when we burn gasoline to power our cars came to this planet as solar energy many years ago. That energy was converted through several plant and animal mechanisms and then pressed by time and pressure into fossil fuels. The complete story of pollution from fossil fuels is still a matter of some debate, but the fact that this energy originally came from the sun is beyond debate.
Okay, let's say that you walk everywhere you go and use no fossil fuels for transportation. You get all of your electricity to run your home and heat your gecko cages from a hydroelectric facility. The energy to run your home comes only from water falling through the turbines of the dam. The question is, "How did the water get upstream of the dam?" That's right, the water got up there by solar energy. The sun heats the surface of large bodies of water so that they evaporate. The water vapor floats into the air, forms clouds, and falls as rain on the mountains. The water runs down the mountains to the lake and then through the turbines of the dam. Again, the real energy that makes the process work is solar energy. Hydroelectric doesn't produce pollution in the sense of combustion gases, but damming a river is not without environmental impact.
Wind power? Why do you think the wind blows? Ask a birder sometime about birds killed by the big windmills if you believe that wind power has zero environmental impact.
Is there a point to this rant? I don't know. I guess the first point is that when someone talks about using solar power, I want to say, "Of course I use solar power. I just use a variety of long and short conversion processes." I guess the second point is that I'm not sure that any power source will ever be completely clean or completely without impact. Our history certainly gives no reason for this hope.
Bill
The point of this little trip down scientific memory lane is that I always have to laugh when I hear people talk about needing to increase our use of solar energy. If we really analyze things, most of the energy that mankind has used throughout history has been solar energy. The only difference has been conversion process.
Let's look at the first humans coming down from the trees and walking along the savannah (or created in Eden or swimming in an ancient sea as the aquatic ape theory insists). These people derived their transportation from their feet. The source of energy was their food, mostly fruits and seeds. Their tools were made by their own hands. The source of energy to run these hands was again their food. Where did these fruits and seeds get energy? Did they magically make energy from nothing? No, the energy of these foods came from the sun. Plants used photosynthesis to turn this solar energy into the chemical energy of carbohydrates that humans can digest into sugars that give us energy. The energy from these fruits and seeds never led to a pollution problem because there were too few humans to leave enough waste in one spot to create a pollution problem.
As man advanced, we began to use fire as source of energy to provide heat for cooking our food, keeping ourselves warm, and shaping tools. Where does the wood get the energy that releases when the wood burns? Does the wood magically produce this energy from nothing? No, the energy in the wood fibers again came from the sun. Again, the photosynthesis produced the organic structure of the tree, and these organic molecules release heat on burning. For many years, burning wood never led to pollution problems again because there were too few people to burn enough wood to cause pollution. Eventually, burning wood did make pollution in some of the big cities.
The story continues with the horse. We learned to use horses and oxen to provide the muscle for our transportation. Again, they got their energy from grasses and grains, and the grasses and grains got energy from the sun. As most people know, horses eventually produced horrible pollution problems. The automobile was first seen as a solution to the problem of horse manure filling our streets.
We developed the use of coal and oil. The story is the same. The energy that we are using when we burn gasoline to power our cars came to this planet as solar energy many years ago. That energy was converted through several plant and animal mechanisms and then pressed by time and pressure into fossil fuels. The complete story of pollution from fossil fuels is still a matter of some debate, but the fact that this energy originally came from the sun is beyond debate.
Okay, let's say that you walk everywhere you go and use no fossil fuels for transportation. You get all of your electricity to run your home and heat your gecko cages from a hydroelectric facility. The energy to run your home comes only from water falling through the turbines of the dam. The question is, "How did the water get upstream of the dam?" That's right, the water got up there by solar energy. The sun heats the surface of large bodies of water so that they evaporate. The water vapor floats into the air, forms clouds, and falls as rain on the mountains. The water runs down the mountains to the lake and then through the turbines of the dam. Again, the real energy that makes the process work is solar energy. Hydroelectric doesn't produce pollution in the sense of combustion gases, but damming a river is not without environmental impact.
Wind power? Why do you think the wind blows? Ask a birder sometime about birds killed by the big windmills if you believe that wind power has zero environmental impact.
Is there a point to this rant? I don't know. I guess the first point is that when someone talks about using solar power, I want to say, "Of course I use solar power. I just use a variety of long and short conversion processes." I guess the second point is that I'm not sure that any power source will ever be completely clean or completely without impact. Our history certainly gives no reason for this hope.
Bill
