Energy is really a simple, and useful, concept.We live in a world where people talk about "conserving energy" or "alternative energy." It is useful to know exactly what they mean, and whether their ideas are useful or not. Unfortunately, in a lot of science classes, they think they have to teach you a lot of other things, like Newton's laws, before they can talk about energy.
In everyday life, however, you really don't use Newton's laws very much. I mean, when is the last time you had to calculate the acceleration of something knowing the forces on it? Many people get turned off at the start before they even get to more useful concepts.
Energy concepts can be learned directly and can be very useful in understanding our world. Generation of energy and transfers of energy from one form to another are the basis of modern life.
We burn coal to produce heat energy, transform heat energy into electrical energy, then transform that back into heat energy to cook our food. Electrical energy is transformed into radio waves to send TV signals to us, then electrical energy transforms TV signals into light and sound energy that we enjoy.
In the following sections, these subjects are included:
The many different forms that energy can take, and how to figure out how much is in each kind.
What all the different forms of energy generation are, including water, coal, nuclear, solar and wind power, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
What the law of the conservation of energy means, and how to use it.
Why the transfer of energy always involves some inefficiency, and what the efficiency of different transfers typically is.
Why it is so inefficient to transform the energy in gasoline into motion of our car, or the energy in coal into electricity.
Why incandescent bulbs are so inefficient at producing light, and whether it's really enough difference to worry about in terms of your electric bill.
Why solar panels are convenient ways to make electricity directly from the sun, but why their efficiency is so low.
What the greenhouse effect is, and why our planet may be heating up. And why the oceans hold so much heat energy, and how they have slowed down the heating of our planet.
Why they can't make a carburetor that will turn a regular car into a 100 mile per gallon miracle.
Why they are having problems coming up with a battery that will run an electric car all day.
What albedo means, what it is for different substances, and why differences in albedo may make a lot of difference in our lives.
Why alternating current and high-voltage transmission lines are needed to transmit electrical energy over long distances.
Why some people are worried that cell phone transmissions and high-voltage power lines may be dangerous to our health.
\