Energy

[robin lee]

I work for the The Division of Energy Services. It's a desk job which kind of wears on me, but it is awfully interesting. I don't understand energy nearly as much as everyone that works here, I probably know less than most people I know. I'm going to try to understand it a little better through this. Maybe you'll have some advice.

This is the Wikipedia article on itHere is the Wikipedia article on Energy

This was helpful because it reminded me that Energy is not what i always think of it as. I usually think of Energy as electricity, and by most standards it is. The term is used pretty loosly it seems. This clarifies that energy is really a physics term that "describes the amount of work that can be performed by a force." I think it's a good broad term since when we talk about "energy savings" and "energy efficiency" we're not only just talking about electricity we're talking about work, time, money, and resources.

So apparnetly there are different forms of energy "kinetic, potential, thermal, gravitational, sound, light, elastic, and electromagnetic energy" and "any form of energy can be transformed into another form, but the total energy always remains the same."

So the kind of Energy i'm interested in, i think, is electricity (here is the wikipedia link . What makes our lights work, our computers glare and our televisions flicker.

So apparently electricity was kind of a mystery until the 1600's. People knew there was lightnening and they knew that electric fish shocked them but they didn't have much of a science behind it. (more to come...i have to get running)

[Jake]

Good thinking, Robin!

It's funny you brought up the semantics surrounding the term "energy." As many of you know (or don't know), I am similarly situated to Robin in that I work primarily with "energy." However, my concept of "energy" is also of a vastly different type than Robin's (electricity) or "amount of work, etc...." When I think of "energy" I think of the raw materials that, in many places, create the "electricity" or other power source necessary to make something move and/or operate (i.e., crude oil, coal bed methane and other gases, coal). Long story short, I'm interested in the natural resources, and management thereof, necessary to create both electricity as well as power things to "work."

Good discussion Robin -- it just makes me realize that when you work with "energy" there are many different cogs and aspects of it beyond what we see every day.

[robin lee]

Thanks for the words of encouragement Jake. I think the production of energy via the combustion of raw materials is exactly what i'd be getting at when analyzing what it is that fuels our modern world of technology. In order to get there i think i need to understand electricity better.

So i was always taught that electricity was discovered by Ben Franklin when he flew his kite with a key in the rain. As interesting of a story as that is it doesn't really explain what is making my computer glow right now. So it turns out electricity has been known about for a very long time. The egyptians reference electric fish used to try to make people healthy. But electricity didn't get its name until William Gilbert's extensive study of static electricity from rubbing amber. more to come!

[Nash]

you've forgotten my favorite type of energy: Southern.

BW4L

[robin lee]

Energy is measured in BTU's.

What the hell is a BTU?
it is the British Thermal Unit.

"A BTU is defined as amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of liquid water by one degree from 60° to 61°Fahrenheit at a constant pressure of one atmosphere. As is the case with the calorie, several different definitions of the BTU exist, which are based on different water temperatures and therefore vary by up to 0.5%:"

A BTU is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit

[robin lee]

good link to help understand how energy production works.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/" target="_blank">
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/" target="_blank">http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/

thanks government!

[Jake]

NEVER thank the government. NEVER.