How many Energy Sources are there?

kieranhr

Here's something I've been thinking about for a few weeks now, so I thought I'd put it out there. How many different sources of energy are there in the world? It's not just a random hypothetical question, it has definite significance in a post peak-oil world.

It's important that we distinguish between an energy source (such as the sun) and what I'll call an energy carrier (such as electricity, which can only be produced from another energy source).

I think the answer may be a lot smaller than it seems.

JoeB-

Energy sources on Earth.. there are two I can think of, maybe three...

The sun clearly is the biggest, and virtually all the energy sources derive from it.

The second also derives from star energy and that is the radioactivity of the earth's core which powers the geysers and hot springs etc... this energy can be captured and converted to electricity.. (Radio activity depends on heavy unstable elements that are 'cooked' in a star in a nuclear process which then goes supernova and spreads all the heavy elements around, they tend to sink to the center of bodies like the Earth)

That reminds me of gravatational energy.. the tides are powered by gravity... thinking about it some more it seems clear that it is the motion of the moon that provides the tidal energy... so the (relative) motion of the moon to the earth must have a heap of 'trapped' energy in the sense that the moon must lose the same amount of (kinetic) energy as is gained by the seas on Earth.. (or the moon and the earth each provide half)... there is so much energy here that the fact that the moon is slowing down is barely noticeable

Wind energy and water energy (i.e damning rivers) comes directly from the suns influence... the sun powers the climate and 'raises' water to mountain tops where it can be damned. (dammed?)

Oil and Coal come indirectly from the suns influence...

Chemical energy (i.e burning wood) comes indirectly from the sun.

And finally nuclear energy... which we have been so very sneaky in order to unlock.

Possibly primordial black holes as an advanced energy source?

Cheers

Steve

Isn't gravity the cause and source of the sun's energy?

Without gravity there would be no sun.

What causes gravity?

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Or to put the question differently...how many sources of mass are there:p

Thomas_S_Hunterson

SteveC wrote: »

Isn't gravity the cause and source of the sun's energy?

The sun is like a massive nuclear reactor. The source of the energy is a massive fusion between hydrogen isotopes. Without gravity, this could probably not occur as there would be nothing holding it together, as with all planets, matter would just float around in some sort of 'soup'.

Steve

So to sum up:
Gravity greates energy.
Mass creates gravity.
Energy creates mass.

Maybe that Einstein guy was right all along...:p
E=MC2.

kieranhr

I think JoeBallantine is fairly spot on. My own answer would have been a definite two, which were solar energy and nuclear energy, with a possible third being the heat contained within the earth's core. Of course solar energy is nuclear energy, but I wanted this question to have a practical point too, which is this:

When the fossil fuels run out, how many energy sources do we have left to heat our homes and fuel our cars, etc?

So it seems all we have is solar and nuclear. I'm not sure that we can usefully harvest energy from the the motion of the moon or the heat within the earth's core, at least not here in Ireland. Also, for anyone who thinks nuclear is our best solution to the energy shortages caused by peak oil, I have two words: Peak Uranium.

Pgibson

SteveC wrote: »

So to sum up:
Gravity greates energy.
Mass creates gravity.
Energy creates mass.

Maybe that Einstein guy was right all along...:p
E=MC2.

The above analysis is pure......$%^&*.

Up until the 1970s there were FOUR types of energy:

1. Gravity.. (as described by General Relativity.)
2. The Strong Nuclear Force.
3. The Weak Nuclear Force.
3. Electromagnetism

The seventies UNITED the Weak Nuclear Force and Electromagnetism.
(Nobel Prizes awarded: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1979/ )

That left just Three:

1. Gravity
2. The Strong Nuclear.
3. The Electro-Weak.

A Fourth one has just popped up again: "DARK ENERGY"

Nature hits back!

.

Steve

Pgibson wrote: »

The above analysis is pure......$%^&*.

My post was meant in a light hearted way and should be taken as such.:)

In any case, the OP was specifically asking about sources of energy, not types of energy.

kieranhr

Pgibson wrote: »

The above analysis is pure......$%^&*.

Up until the 1970s there were FOUR types of energy:

1. Gravity.. (as described by General Relativity.)
2. The Strong Nuclear Force.
3. The Weak Nuclear Force.
3. Electromagnetism

.

I think you're talking about forces, not energy. I don't see how electromagnetism is a source of energy.

Also in fairness to SteveC, even if he was tongue in cheek, he was right too. Mass does 'create' gravitational force, and energy is mass in another form.

chris85

Ive also seen a bit of research going into energy harvesting such as using the energy created when a car goes over a speed bump to power the lights on the road. Also the vibration of people walking across floors transferred into energy to power some devices.

Pgibson

kieranhr wrote: »

. I don't see how electromagnetism is a source of energy..

Mind boggling.

The electromagnetic radiation from the sun delivers 1.366 KILOWATTS of energy onto every square meter of the earth's atmosphere all day every day.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_radiation

.

Teg Veece

Pgibson wrote: »

Mind boggling.

Is your mind always boggled so easily?

Pgibson

Teg Veece wrote: »

Is your mind always boggled so easily?

And confused and bewildered and demented.....always and ever.

This is me here in my natural state:

http://earthissquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/bush-confused.jpg

.