Who wants to be an energy geek? Prepared by Steve Brick of the Energy Center of Wisconsin; posted on the K-12 Energy Education Program website, www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/ Additional slides prepared by Kevin Little, Ph.D., Informing Ecological Design, LLC December 2006

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 electricity come from? If you answered “Coal”, you’re right! Here are figures from 2001: Coal 73.1% Nuclear 20.9% Hydroelectric 3.5% Natural Gas 1.6% Oil 0.3% Other 0.6% (source: http://www.focusonenergy.com/page.jsp?pageId=236 , citing a report by state utilities to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission) http://www.doa.state.wi.us/docs_view2.asp?docid=767 reports that in 2005 Coal accounted for 74.9% of electrical generation .

Where does most of Wisconsin’s coal come from? 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 Burning coal to make one kilowatt-hour of electricity creates about 2 pounds of carbon dioxide along with smaller amounts of other by-products (like nitrogen and sulfur oxides).

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.