_The Young Scientist.What IsEnergy?Energy is hydro, oil, coal, gas, nuclearfission, and <strong>fusion</strong>. Except invery special circumstances, it is notsolar, wind, or biomass. Why do Idistinguish between these two typesof <strong>energy</strong> sources? Don't they bothprovide i<strong>energy</strong>? What is <strong>energy</strong> anyway?Let's consider three exarhples:1. Lightning strikes a tree in a dryforest. Tpe tree ignites, and soon thewhole frest is ablaze, releasing tremendousamounts of heat.2. A 20-year-old electrical generatorburns hundreds of tons of coal aPopulation(millions)5,000WORLD ENERGY USE: ENERGY ISNT RUNNING OUTThe world population has constantly increasedlits use of <strong>energy</strong>. The graphshows how <strong>energy</strong> consumption per person has increased as the worldpopulation increased. The dotted line represents the world population; thesolid line is <strong>energy</strong> use measured in calories.day to provide electricity for homesand industries in an old Midwesterncommunity.3. A floating nuclear plant off thecoast of India begins to provide heatand electricity to develop modern agricultureand industry for an area includingseveral million people.What are the differences amongthese cases? Obviously, in the firstcase, no useful work is being donewith the large amount of <strong>energy</strong> releasedby the forest fire. In the secondcase, further transformation (changein composition) of the form of <strong>energy</strong>is responsible for useful work. In thethird case, larger amounts of moreconcentrated types of <strong>energy</strong> arebeing used to increase the efficiencyof useful work.All these separate ideas can becombined into one: Energy is thestored-up potentiality (the ability todevelop) that can be used to transformnature in such a way that (1)useful work is done, or (2) a greaterpotentiality is created for future usefulwork, or (3)—most important—both things happen. The <strong>energy</strong> potentialis contained in the organizedstructures of the physical universe (forexample, fuel). This <strong>energy</strong> potentialis made into usable <strong>energy</strong> by thechange of organization and work thatoccurs when it is used.Therefore, the important thingabout <strong>energy</strong> is that if the propertypes are properly used, we can increasethe amount of <strong>energy</strong> availablein the future and the benefits fromthe use of each unit (piece) of that<strong>energy</strong>. To do that, however, we mustuse science to constantly discovernew types of <strong>energy</strong> and new ways toeffectively use that <strong>energy</strong> (technology).This means that we have to developnew types of <strong>energy</strong> faster thanwe use up existing <strong>energy</strong> sources.But at the same time we have to useexisting <strong>energy</strong> fast enough to givethe world population a high enoughstandard of living to make possible ahigh rate of scientific progress.Will Energy Run Out?How does the history of <strong>energy</strong> useshow us that it is self-developing andself-expanding? The accompanying78 FUSION September! 1980
figure shows that the world populationhas constantly been increasing itsrate of <strong>energy</strong> use by inventing new,more efficient types of <strong>energy</strong>. Thesenew <strong>energy</strong> sources provide the basisfor further growth by discovery andapplication of even more advanced<strong>energy</strong> technologies. This process oftransformation of <strong>energy</strong> sources andtheir uses—from solar and biomass towood, then coal, oil, and now fissionand <strong>fusion</strong>—also provides the answerto the question: "But how much <strong>energy</strong>is there on earth or in the universe?Will we ever run out?"These questions, put in this way,mean that the questioner is using thewrong set of ideas and facts about<strong>energy</strong>.If we are stuck in a situation withno new science or technology, thenwe will eventually run out of <strong>energy</strong>.In this fixed (unchanging) situation,there will be a limit (boundary) to theamount of <strong>energy</strong> we can get fromthe resources available to us. But ifwe move up to a more advancedsituation where there is a new combinationof science, technology, andresources, then there will be a new,higher limit to the amount of <strong>energy</strong>we can get. Each new combination ofscience, technology, and resourcesmoves up the limit on <strong>energy</strong> availablefor the population to use. Thenumber of new situations is itselfwithout limit or infinite.Each new situation in the infinitenumber of situations possible is calleda transfinite in relation to all the othersituations. The importance of lookingat the <strong>energy</strong> situation in terms of thetransfinite is that it gives us a realmeasure of <strong>energy</strong>. The full measureof any <strong>energy</strong> source is in the transfiniteprocess of creating the next,better forms of <strong>energy</strong>.This measure of <strong>energy</strong> is so powerfuland accurate that it also takescare of the objection to progress usedby some miseducated people today.This is the argument that rapid growthor development creates a lot of waste.The technical name for this waste isentropy, a quantity related to the creationof unusable forms of <strong>energy</strong>(like friction heat).This argument is not even usuallytrue, since more advanced <strong>energy</strong>technologies (usually at higher temperatures)can be fit together withindustrial processes to reduce wasteand increase efficiency. One exampleis the use of heat from nuclear plantsto desalinate (take the salt out of)water or make fertilizer. But even ifsome <strong>energy</strong> must be "wasted," thatis not important compared to the processof development of new <strong>energy</strong>sources. What is crucial is the growingamount of extra <strong>energy</strong> available todrive the process of development. Wecall this extra <strong>energy</strong> free <strong>energy</strong>. Thepercentage of free <strong>energy</strong> availablehas been increasing as new, more efficient<strong>energy</strong> technologies—like nuclearfission—have been developed.At each stage of history, it may beuseful to do the simple type of countingof the <strong>energy</strong> used, created, andlost. But in each new situation the oldnumbers cannot be added up continuouslyand carried forward. In someways this situation can be comparedto running partway around a circularrace track suddenly to find that thetrack has turned into a more complicatedsurface like a sphere (globe). Just asyou would need a new set of measurementsto measure your path onthe sphere, so we need new measurementsfor the productivity of <strong>energy</strong>every time there is an importantchange in <strong>energy</strong> and other technology.New TechnologiesAs long as science and progressexist, <strong>energy</strong> is not restricted by theso-called laws of conservation or entropy.These laws just provide a convenientmeans of counting duringeach stage of technology. Our realneed, however, is the developmentand widescale use of new forms of<strong>energy</strong>, like nuclear fission and <strong>fusion</strong>today. These are the new technologiesthe youth of today will be improvingand using in the future. Evenmore exciting, today's youth will bediscovering new types of <strong>energy</strong> onearth and in space that have barelyyet been thought of. We will be describingthem for you in future columns.—Dr. Morris LevittBooks ReceivedMcGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of EnvironmentalScience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. 858 pp., $34.50.To Choose a Future. Ronald Q. Ridkerand William D. Watson. Baltimore: JohnsHopkins University Press, 1980. 410 pp.,$33.50.The Development of the U.S. UrbanSystem. Edgar S. Dunn, Jr. Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.192 pp., $65.The New Tyranny: How Nuclear PowerEnslaves Us. Robert Jungk. Binghamton.N.Y.: Grosset and Dunlap, Inc., 1980.200 pp., $10.Robert Oppenheimer: Letters andRecollections, ed. Alice Kimball Smithand Charles Weiner. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1980. 376 pp.,$20.Morality In Medicine. Richard Warner.Sherman Oaks, Calif.: Alfred PublishingCompany, 1980. 137 pp., $7.95.McGraw-Hill Modern Scientists andEngineers, ed. McGraw-Hill EncyclopediaScience and Technology staff. NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 1980.1,420 pp., $110.World Guide to Battery-poweredRoad Transportation. J.M. Christianand G.G. Reibsamen. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. 392 pp., $49.50.Process Heat Exchange. Chemical EngineeringMagazine. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. 488 pp., $34.50.The Many Faces of Suicide, ed. NormanL. Farberow. New York: McGraw-Hill,1980. 446 pp., $18.95.The Quick Knife: Unnecessary SurgeryUSA. Duane F. Stroman. New York: KennikatPress Corp., 1980. 178 pp., $12.50.Scarcity and Growth Reconsidered.ed. V. Kerry Smith, Baltimore: JohnsHopkins University Press, 1979. 290 pp.,$6.95.The Management of Schisosomiasis.Patricia L. Rosenfield. Washington, D.C.:Resources for the Future, 1979. 136 pp.,$6.75.Manufacturing Processes. Herbert W.Yankee. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1979.740 pp., $23.95.Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometries.Marvin Greenberg. San Francisco:W.H. Freeman and Company, 1980. 400pp., $18.The Big Bang. Joseph Silk. San Francisco:W.H. Freeman and Company,1979. 394 pp., $18.Continued on page 80September 1980 FUSION 79
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of the Academy drew an editorial bl
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LettersRiemann Vs. Darwin:Evolution
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LettersContinued from page 7The Aut
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News BriefsCarlos de HoyosUwe Parpa
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News BriefsU.S. BUDGET CUTS TARGET
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Special ReportWhy MonetarismDestroy
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according to Mitchell, the seminal
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the worst accident that could possi
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subways), fossil-fueled power plant
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should be started now, Levitt state
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TheNASAStoryThe Fight forAmerica'sb
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