Portal:Energy
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The Energy Portal Welcome to Wikipedia's Energy portal, your gateway to energy. This portal is aimed at giving you access to all energy related topics in all of its forms.
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Introduction
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia) 'activity') is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat and light. Energy is a conserved quantity—the law of conservation of energy states that energy can be converted in form, but not created or destroyed; matter and energy may also be converted to one another. The unit of measurement for energy in the International System of Units (SI) is the joule (J).
Common forms of energy include the kinetic energy of a moving object, the potential energy stored by an object (for instance due to its position in a field), the elastic energy stored in a solid object, chemical energy associated with chemical reactions, the radiant energy carried by electromagnetic radiation, and the internal energy contained within a thermodynamic system. All living organisms constantly take in and release energy.
Due to mass–energy equivalence, any object that has mass when stationary (called rest mass) also has an equivalent amount of energy whose form is called rest energy, and any additional energy (of any form) acquired by the object above that rest energy will increase the object's total mass just as it increases its total energy.
Human civilization requires energy to function, which it gets from energy resources such as fossil fuels, nuclear fuel, or renewable energy. The Earth's climate and ecosystems processes are driven by the energy the planet receives from the Sun (although a small amount is also contributed by geothermal energy). (Full article...)
Selected article
As farmers worldwide respond to higher crop prices in order to maintain the global food supply-and-demand balance, pristine lands are cleared to replace the food crops that were diverted elsewhere to biofuels' production. Because natural lands, such as rainforests and grasslands, store carbon in their soil and biomass as plants grow each year, clearance of wilderness for new farms translates to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Due to this off-site change in the carbon stock of the soil and the biomass, indirect land use change has consequences in the greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of a biofuel. (Full article...)
Selected image
Photo credit: Andreas Tille
Geysers erupt periodically due to surface water being heated by geothermal heat.
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?
Selected biography
Born in Ireland, Thomson studied at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. On graduating, he became a mathematics teacher at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. During his life Thomson published more than 600 scientific papers and filed over 70 patents.
As early as 1845 Thomson pointed out that the experimental results of William Snow Harris were in accordance with the laws of Coulomb. Over the period 1855 to 1867, Thomson collaborated with Peter Guthrie Tait the Treatise on Natural Philosophy that unified the various branches of physical science under the common principle of energy. His inventions included the current balance for the precise specification of the ampere, the standard unit of electric current.
In 1893, Thomson headed an international commission to decide on the design of the Niagara Falls power station. Despite his previous belief in the superiority of direct current electric power transmission, he agreed to use alternating current after seeing a Westinghouse demonstration at the Chicago World's Fair.
In the news
- 10 July 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Two Ukrainians are killed by Russian drone and missile attacks on a port in southern Odesa Oblast, Ukraine, which damaged port infrastructure, an energy facility, and a civilian ship. (Reuters)
- 22 June 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia launches missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, injuring two people and damaging energy infrastructure. Ukraine says that it shot down 12 of 16 missiles and all 13 drones. (Reuters)
- 16 June 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Norway announces that it will give Ukraine 1.1 billion kroner (US$103 million) to help repair its energy infrastructure and secure the country's electricity supply before the winter. (Le Monde)
- 15 June 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- The United States announces a $1.5 billion aid package to Ukraine, focused primarily on the country's energy industry and humanitarian assistance. (Politico)
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Quotations
- "There are only two ways to stabilize concentration of greenhouse gases. One is to avoid emitting them in the first place; the other is to try to capture them after they're created. And there are problems with both approaches." – George W. Bush, 2001
- "The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action." – Al Gore, 2007
- "If the climate researchers' reports are to be believed, global warming is a huge medium and long-term threat, one which could have dramatic consequences such as refugee flows and armed conflicts." – Angela Merkel, 2007
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