Something to think about - what's left?

The other day, I started thinking about the different energy sources humans have exploited and their evolution: trees (charcoal), fixed water (water wheels), animal (as labor), animal (fuel, as in whale oil), hydroelectric, coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear fission and wind-electric. After I made the list, I thought, “what’s left?”

Here’s the answer according to a USGS report:

oil: 18.42 ZJ (zettajoule, or 10^21 joules)
natural gas: 15.7 ZJ
coal: 290 ZJ
Uranium: 2 ZJ (up to 1000 ZJ in fast breeder reactors)

Those are global estimates.

Here’s the breakdown of where we are getting our energy:

oil: 37%
coal: 25%
natural gas: 23%
nuclear: 6%
hydro-electric: 3%
wind: .3%

You should add Geothermal to the list.

There has been talk in California about trying a ‘wave energy’ farm:::

http://ocsenergy.anl.gov/guide/wave/index.cfm
waveenergy600.jpg

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Our energy? Kinetic? heath?
Helium 3 on the moon?
Everything else outhere in space?

Our resources are limited here on earth. Even if we use sustainable energy-sources. We need to build windmills. Hydrotermal plants, Solar cells etc…they all need material (and energy) to produce.

But if we leave this limited sphere. Wich will cost a lot of energy and resources there’s virtually no limit anymore.

I’d say lets focus on renawable energy-sources & then get the space-age going.

Grtz

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Geothermal: .2%
Biofuels: .2%
Solar: .04%

biomass: 4%

http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-060/ESpt4.html#Table

I didn’t post this to “sell” any particular solution, but just help define a lot of the sound bites that we hear (ie peak oil, clean coal, etc).

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Everything I’ve heard says that Helium-3 is still a bit far off from reality… but who knows. This concept is all over the news the last couple days: Solar power beamed from the moon! With laserz!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20006462-1.html

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WAVE ENERGY was shut down in thr 1970s by the NUCLEAR LOBBY in the UK.

Have you seen the “Edinburgh Duck” or “Salter’s Duck”?