Cars, coffee, cat videos, canned pineapple. None
of these things are really things
without energy. But although energy makes
our whole world work, we don't think
about it that much.
Even the basic stuff, like how much
energy do we use? And where does our
energy come from? So let's take a look.
For most of human
history our energy use was pretty flat.
But in the past century, it sky-rocketed.
In the U.S., you use three times as much
energy as your great-grandmother did 100
years ago...
when they used more wood than oil. Like every animal we use energy from
the sun to stay warm and we use the
chemical energy from food to fuel our
bodies. Worldwide our biggest single
source of energy isn't food, though. It's petroleum.
We turn it into gasoline and diesel,
which we use to move ourselves and our stuff
around. But the vast majority of the
energy we use today goes to generating
electricity, which we do in all kinds of
ways. We burn coal and natural gas, we
split atoms, dam rivers, harness wind, even turn
sunlight directly into electricity.
Where our electricity comes from depends on
where we live.
Countries like Poland and China generate almost all
of their electricity from coal. While
others rely more on natural gas. A few
countries rely almost entirely on
hydroelectric dams. While even fewer get
most of their electricity from nuclear
fission.
No country its most of their electricity
from wind and solar, though Denmark is
getting close.
How about the U.S.? For decades the
American grid and mostly on coal, but
with the rise of fracking - still
controversial - natural gas is pretty much
tied for the top electricity spot. Travel
around the country, however, and each
region tells the different electricity
story. In North Dakota, a lightbulb plugged
into the grid will run on electricity
made mostly from coal. While in Oregon,
that same light bulb runs mainly on
hydropower. In New Hampshire, you've got
primarily nuclear power, and in Florida,
mostly natural gas. After years of using
more and more energy, demand in the U.S.
is starting to level off. We still use a lot.
On average, an American uses three times the
energy of
someone in China. But then again, that same American only uses a
third of what an Icelander uses.
But regardless of where you live
things will be very different for your
great-grankids. Our energy sources and uses
are changing in major ways:
electric cars could edge out gasoline...
renewables are on the rise...
electricity generation is getting less centralized...
and data is and making us smarter about how we use energy.
There's a lot at stake. Energy is
more than a matter of comfort. It makes
all of our important systems work, health,
the economy, communication...it's part of
everything. And the choices we make now
will determine how we use energy in the
future.
