Portal:Energy

Wikipedia portals: Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Natural sciences People Philosophy Religion Society Technology edit The Energy Portal Welcome to Wikipedia's energy portal, your gateway to the subject of energy and its effect on the world around us. Main page   Explore topics & categories   Tasks & announcements Page contents: Introduction • Energy news • Selected article • Selected picture • Selected biography • Did you know? • Quotations • Related portals • Wikiprojects • Associated Wikimedia • Help edit  watch   Introduction Energy is a set of physics measures. Popularly the term is most often used in the context of energy as a technology: energy resources, their consumption, development, depletion, and conservation. Biologically, bodies rely on food for energy in the same sense as industry relies on fuels to continue functioning. Since economic activities such as manufacturing and transportation can be energy intensive, energy efficiency, energy dependence, energy security and price are key concerns. Increased awareness of the effects of global warming has led to international debate and action for the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, like many previous energy use patterns it is changing not due to depletion or supply constraints but due to problems with waste, extraction or geopolitical scenarios. In the context of natural science, energy can take several different forms: thermal, chemical, electrical, radiant, nuclear, etc. These are often grouped as being either kinetic energy or potential energy. Many of these forms can be readily transformed into another with the help of a device; from chemical energy to electrical energy using a battery, for example. Most energy available for human use ultimately comes from the sun which generates it with nuclear fusion. The enormous potential for fusion and other basic nuclear reactions is expressed by the famous equation E = mc2. The concepts of energy and its transformations are useful in explaining natural processes on larger scales: Meteorological phenomena like wind, rain, lightning and tornadoes all result from energy transformations brought about by solar energy on the planet. Life itself is critically dependent on biological energy transformations; organic chemical bonds are constantly broken and made to make the exchange and transformation of energy possible. Read more... edit  watch   Selected article In 2004, the worldwide energy consumption of the human race was on average 15 terawatts (TW; 1 TW = 1 x 1012 W) with 86.5% from burning fossil fuels. This is equivalent to 471,000 PJ (1 PJ = 1 x 1015 J) per year. There is at least 10% uncertainty in these figures due to national variations in tracking consumption, and due to variations in energy content between particular barrels of oil or tons of coal. The remaining worldwide energy resources are large, with the remaining fossil fuels totaling an estimated 0.4 YJ (1 YJ = 1024 J) and the available nuclear fuel such as uranium exceeding 2.5 YJ (1 YJ = 1024 J). Mostly thanks to the Sun, the world also has a renewable usable energy flux that exceeds 120 PW (8,000 times 2004 total energy usage), or 3.8 YJ/yr, dwarfing all non-renewable resources. Despite the abundance of fossil fuels there are a number of pressures that may move the world’s energy consumption to alternative energy sources. These include political considerations over energy security and potential pressure from energy superpowers, environmental concerns related to global warming and sustainability, and economic pressure resulting from energy price rises, carbon emissions trading and green taxation. This move is already starting to happen in some countries, notably as a result of the Kyoto Protocol, and further steps in this direction are proposed. For example, the European Commission has proposed that the energy policy of the European Union should set a binding target of increasing the maximum level of renewable energy in the EU’s overall mix from less than 7% today to 20% by 2020. Read more... edit  watch   Selected picture Photo credit: Ram-Man Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe, most commonly liquid and gases such as crude oil and natural gas. edit  watch   Did you know? The Stuart Shale Oil Plant (pictured) in Australia was in operation only five years? Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago operates the world's largest LNG train? Despite projections of producing four times as much power as it used in heating, the Riggatron fusion reactor was never built due to a lack of funding? In the late 1980s, as many as 50 percent of Argentina's thermal power plants had to be shut down due to lack of maintenance, causing a supply crisis? Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, the largest nuclear power plant in the world, was shut down after being hit by the Chūetsu offshore earthquake in July 2007? The world's largest surface oil shale pyrolysis reactor is Petrosix, operated by the Brazilian oil company Petrobras? Russia plans to build several floating nuclear power stations? Shale gas, a form of natural gas extracted from shale, may also refer to oil shale gas? edit  watch   Selected biography Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867), an English chemist and physicist, is credited with the discovery of electromagnetic induction, which formed the basis for exploiting electricity as a practical form of energy. His discovery paved the way for the development of generators, induction motors, transformers, and most other electrical machines. In 1831, Faraday began his great series of experiments in which he discovered electromagnetic induction. He established that a changing magnetic field produces an electric field, a relation mathematically modelled by Faraday's law. Faraday later used the principle to construct the electric dynamo, the ancestor of modern power generators. He went on to investigate the fundamental nature of electricity, concluding in 1839 that, contrary to opinions at the time, only a single "electricity" exists, and the changing values of quantity and intensity (voltage and charge) would produce different groups of phenomena. Some historians refer to Faraday as the best experimentalist in the history of science. Despite this his mathematical ability did not extend so far as trigonometry or any but the simplest algebra. He nevertheless possessed the ability to present his ideas in clear and simple language. During his lifetime, Faraday rejected a knighthood and twice refused to become President of the Royal Society. Read more... edit  watch   Energy news 21 December 2011: Solar energy company BP Solar closes after 38 years of operations while Solar Millennium files for insolvency, following module maker Solon SE. 2 December 2011: The FAA awards $7.7 million to eight companies to advance the development of drop-in commercial aviation biofuels, with a special focus on ATJ (alcohol to jet) fuel. 23 November 2011: The IEA said renewable energy technology is becoming increasingly cost competitive and growth rates are in line to meet levels required of a sustainable energy future. 13 November 2011: Oman joins the Gas Exporting Countries Forum as a full member. 8 November 2011: Inauguration of the controversial Nord Stream pipeline. 11 October 2011: Solyndra, a once-promising solar energy venture in California that received $535 million in federal loans, went bankrupt. 28 September 2011: The Atucha II Nuclear Power Plant in Argentina is inaugurated. 18 September 2011: German engineering giant Siemens is to withdraw entirely from the nuclear industry, as a response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Wikinews on energy Renewable energy news edit  watch   Quotations "The Stone Age came to an end not for a lack of stones and the oil age will end, but not for a lack of oil." – Ahmed Zaki Yamani, 2000 "If history is any guide, oil will eventually be overtaken by less-costly alternatives well before conventional oil reserves run out. Indeed, oil displaced coal despite still vast untapped reserves of coal, and coal displaced wood without denuding our forest lands." – Alan Greenspan, 2005 "The higher relative prices of energy will create incentives for businesses to create new, energy-saving technologies and for energy consumers to adopt them. The market for alternative fuels is growing rapidly and will help to shift consumption away from petroleum-based fuels." – Ben Bernanke, 2006 edit  watch   Related portals Technology Nuclear technology Engineering Ecology Earth sciences Physics Transport Infrastructure Business & Economics Sustainable development Renewable energy Chemistry edit  watch   WikiProjects WikiProjects connected with energy: WikiProject Energy Oil megaprojects task force Other WikiProjects that may be of interest: WikiProject Environment WikiProject Technology WikiProject Biography edit  watch   Help Puzzled by energy? Can't answer your question? Don't understand the answer? Ask at the reference desk Read the Wikipedia help pages For further ideas, to leave a comment, or to learn how you can help improve and update this portal, see the talk page. edit  watch   Associated Wikimedia What are portals? · List of portals · Featured portals