The Energy Problem

Posted: 12.03.2005
By: Derek Coleman

What Is Energy...
Look around you. What do you see? Take a good look. Everything we use every day either took energy to create or uses energy as power. Now I want you to think about that for a moment as I open your mind to something truly incredible. OK, here we go...

Energy is a measure of being able to do work.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
Energy of an object can be in several forms.

One form of energy can be readily transformed into another. Thus, energy remains energy no matter what form it is in.

So, What's The Problem?...
But I have some bad news. We are so caught up in the fight to get the resources to convert to the types of energy we want (i.e. electrical), that we have failed time and time again to see the destruction we are causing by serving the world electricity from the other necessary forms of energy. This is creating a disturbance in the balance between these forms of energy. Think, what happens to chemical, nuclear, or even thermal and kinetic energy if it is all transformed to electrical energy? Naturally, it will try to balance itself out again, but what will happen when it does? Ever see water slosh about in a container trying to level itself out? There will be that same effect with energy. Major fluctuations of the various forms of energy will occur. Hell, it may already have started. Look at the tsunami incident, or number and strength of hurricanes this season, or even the earthquakes that shook Pakistan and Iraq. I'll even bet this will be one of the coldest winters we have seen in decades. Energy trying to balance its self out? Think about it.

Wow, That's Deep!...
Now think about this. The human species has grown even more hungry for more electricity, the most popular form today. The faster our computers get, the larger the hard drives, the more electronic devices we think we need, the more electricity we will need for those devices. The larger the Internet becomes, the more servers, routers, storage devices, and cables it needs, also needing more electricity. Alternate energy is not going to help in the petroleum fuel crisis, it will make it worse. Electric, hybrid, and hydrogen-powered vehicles will create a new need for electricity for power and the production of hydrogen fuel. Wind turbines, solar panels, hydroelectric dams, and thermal energy plants will rape the other forms of energy to provide us more electrical energy. Yet, we will still need more of it. And as the Earth loses the ability to sustain this un-natural distribution of energy, it will wreak absolute havoc to get right again, and we will fall victim to our own greed for the electric form of energy. One form back to many. Back to kinetic (hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes). Back to thermal (forest fires, volcanoes). Back to nuclear (solar radiation, biological anomalies). Back to chemical (carbon-dioxide, rapid repletion of ozone gasses). Back to potential (fossil/bio fuels). These are the things that will return the balance. Enjoy the ride.