Hey, we hear a lot about energy these days, but few really understand energy. Exactly what is energy? One of the best definitions is "heat". In the final analysis, all energy can be turned into "heat". The measure that we use to measure "heat" is the BTU or British Thermal Unit. A BTU is the amount of heat that it take to rase the temperature of one pound of water one degreen f. We can also use the electrical measure, "watt" or kilowatt that we use to measure the amount of electrical power that we use.
When we use ethanol in our cars, many claim that it will help us reduce the amount of oil that we import. First, when you look at ethanol and the amount of "energy" that it takes to grow the corn and turn it into ethanol, you notice that the amount of energy that is in the ethanol is about equal to the amount of energy that went into making the ethanol. We know that a lot of energy went into making the ethanol, so where did the actual energy come from? Hey, how about the Sun? The energy that is in both oil and coal all started out with energy from the Sun. Even hydro electric power is from the Sun when the Sun evaporates water that then comes down as rain. Interesting isn't it?
Think about when we plowed with horses. The energy that the horses used was also from the sun when the horses ate hay or corn. The point is that many people think that we can some how "create" energy by some technical method. Sorry, you don't know what you are talking about. I have heard an add on TV about some new car that makes its own hydrogen gas right on the car and thus gets more mileage. If you know anything about physicis or chemistry, you know that this is impossible. In every case it takes more energy to create a different form of energy than the amount of new energy that you might think you created.
The other thing that you hear is that we need to save energy, no matter what it costs. If you look at this on a bigger scale, you will find that the more we spend and work to save energy, the lower the cost for energy will be for people outside the USA. Think about this. If we cut our energy usage by 50% at a cost of 150% for the more expensive energy that we switched too like ethanol or wind, it would lower the world wide cost of energy. Who would win by all this? China and everyone who sat by watching our stupidity, would save money on their energy. Any savings that we make by stupid decisions will be canceled out by lower world wide prices that we will not be able to take advantage of.
Interesting isn't it?
