What is energy?

 

 

According to Earthenergy (2022), energy is the capacity to do work. Any viable source of power has the capacity to generate energy. Each daily activity as consumption of food, burning coal, nuclear reactions, converts into different kinds of energy. However, energy sources are split into two main groups: renewable and non-renewable. Renewable energy is easily regenerated while non-renewable is a limited source of power. For instance, a great example of renewable energy is wind energy. Wind is used to generate electricity using kinetic energy made by the air movement. (1) On contrary, the burning of fossil fuel is a source of non-renewable energy, which generates electrical energy.

Energy in physics

In physics, energy has an alternative definition, as quantitative property of a physical system to generate work, usually measured in joules. (2) Kinetic energy is the most common source of energy since it is generated by movement of any object for achieving a particular speed. The heavier and faster is the object the more kinetic energy is generated as a result.

 

Chemical energy

Another field of study of energy sources is chemical energy. Chemical energy is the energy which is contained in the bonds of molecules and atoms. The energy is created by a chemical reaction, which a result creates heat. The process is known as exothermic effect. The fossil fuels such as coal, gas biomass are great sources of chemical energy.

 

Energy in our Daily lives

Any type of energy is proved to be important in our daily lives as it is the basic need for humans to live. People do not use energy only for heat. Energy is affecting the world’s wellbeing and behavior. Mundane activities, such as watching television, washing clothes, heating, and lighting the home, taking a shower, working from home on one’s laptop or computer, running appliances, and cooking, account for nearly 40% of total global energy consumption. (3)

Due to Russia’s war in Ukraine,” Russian gas deliveries to Europe have been hampered, and prices have risen everywhere else. But it’s not only the war: alternative gas suppliers are expensive, climate change has drained rivers so much that many of Europe’s nuclear facilities are offline, and European officials have been confused for more than a decade about how to integrate shock absorbers into the system”. (4)

We must focus now, more than ever on saving energy, and utilize the renewable sources such as “wind power, solar power (thermal, photovoltaic, and concentrated), hydro power, tidal power, geothermal energy, ambient heat collected by heat pumps, biofuels, and the renewable portion of waste”. (5)

References

  1. IRENA. Wind energy – IRENA. [Online] 2022. https://www.irena.org/wind.
  2. Google. Energy – Google Arts& Culture . [Online] https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/energy/m02mm_?hl=en.
  3. Jack Dawson . The Different Uses of Energy in our Daily lives. [Online] 28 December 2015. https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/energy-efficiency/the-different-uses-of-energy-in-our-daily-lives/#:~:text=They%20include%20watching%20television%2C%20washing,of%20total%20energy%20use%20globally..
  4. Christina Lu. You Have No Idea How Bad Europe’s Energy Crisis Is. Foreign Policy. [Online] 26 August 2022. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/26/europe-energy-crisis-natural-gas-economy-winter/.
  5. European Commission. Renezable energy statistics – European Commission. [Online] January 2022. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Renewable_energy_statistics#:~:text=Renewable%20energy%20sources%20include%20wind,the%20renewable%20part%20of%20waste..

 

 

A propos de Cristina CEBANU