Who wants to be an
energy geek?
What is energy?
 The ability to do work
Where does energy come
from?
All energy comes from the
sun (well, mostly all…)
Some energy flows
constantly…
…Like solar power, wind power
and hydroelectric power.
Some energy is stored…
…Like coal, oil and natural
gas.
In order for energy to be
useful…
…It has to be transformed.
And every time energy is
transformed, we waste some.
To understand this, let’s
trace energy use through a
system.
Consider the banana.
Bananas are nutritious
and tasty, but…
 Where do they come
from?
 What kind of energy
is used to get the
banana from the
grower into our
kitchens?
How many different kinds of energy were
used to get the banana from fields in
Costa Rica to our kitchens in Wisconsin?
Many!
 Solar – to grow the
bananas
 Human labor – to
tend and harvest the
bananas
 Petroleum – to
transport the
bananas
 Electricity – to cool
the bananas
Now let’s think about
electricity.
Where does most of
Wisconsin’s electricity come
from?




Wind?
Hydroelectric power?
Nuclear power?
Coal?
Where does most of
Wisconsin’s coal come from?




Wisconsin?
Illinois?
Wyoming?
West Virginia?
How does it get from
Wyoming to Wisconsin?




Truck?
Airplane?
Fax?
Train?
How much energy does it
take to get the coal from
Wyoming to your house?
We have to mine the coal…
Transport the coal…
Burn the coal…
And transmit the
electricity.
You figure it out!
To mine one ton of coal…
 It takes the energy of
about ten pounds of
coal.
 So we have about
1,990 pounds left
To transport one ton of coal…
 It takes the energy of
about 40 pounds of
coal.
 So we have about
1,950 pounds left
To burn one ton of coal to
make electricity …
 It takes the energy of
about 1,350 pounds
of coal.
 So we have about
600 pounds of coal
left.
To transmit the electricity
to your house…
 It takes the energy of
about 160 pounds of
coal.
So in the end…
 Only about 440
pounds of coal make
it into useful energy!
So what happened to the
rest?
 Pollution!
 Air pollution
 Water pollution
 Solid waste
So how should we use
electricity?
 Carefully!
 Use efficient
appliances
 Turn things off
 Design efficient
buildings
Well, what can I do?
 It’s true – parents make
most of the decisions
about energy
consumption
 Educate them!
 Changing from
incandescent to compact
fluorescent light bulbs is
one of the simplest things
you can do to save
energy.