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Energy

Specialty Definition: Energy

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Specialty Definition: Conservation of energy

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Conservation of energy is the first law of thermodynamics, and one of several conservation laws.

It is stated as follows:

The total inflow of energy into a system must equal the total outflow of energy from the system, plus the change in the energy contained within the system.

Although ancient philosophers as far back as Thales of Miletus may have had inklings of the First Law, it was first stated in its modern form by the German surgeon Julius Robert von Mayer (1814-1878) in his "Remarks On the Forces of Inorganic Nature" in Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, 43, 233 (1842). Mayer reached his conclusion on a voyage to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), where he found that his patients' blood was a deeper red, because they were using consuming less oxygen, and therefore less energy, to maintain their body temperature in the hotter climate. He had discovered that heat and work were both forms of energy, and later, after improving his knowledge of physics, he calculated a quantitative relationship between them.

Meanwhile, in 1843 James Prescott Joule independently discovered the law by an experiment, now called the "Joule apparatus", in which a descending weight attached to a string caused a paddle immersed in water to rotate. He showed that the gravitational potential energy lost by the weight in descending was equal to the thermal energy (heat) gained by the water by friction with the paddle.

Unfortunately for Mayer, his work was overlooked in favour of Joule's, and Mayer attempted to commit suicide. Later, Mayer's reputation was restored by a sympathetic account in John Tyndall's Heat: A Mode of Motion (1863).

A similar law was written in the privately published Die Erhaltung der Kraft (1847) by Hermann von Helmholtz.

The classical form of the energy conservation law (and in fact the notion of energy in the first place) is directly related (through the corresponding equation of motion) to the force- concept describing the interaction of particles. The latter can be shown to be necessarily instantaneous (i.e. Newtonian) as otherwise one would not be able to define a force objectively, i.e. independent of the state of motion of the observer. One can therefore say that the law of energy conservation does, by definition, only strictly hold for this case of a static interaction of particles, but is not more than an arbitrary ad hoc concept if applied to other situations, in particular those involving light: two light waves can be made to extinguish each other completely if superposed with the correct phase, which proves that a form of energy conservation does not apply here.

References

Engines of Our Ingenuity, episode 722 - radio broadcast by John Lienhard, produced by KUHF-FM Houston)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Conservation of energy."

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Electric power

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Electric power, often known as power or electricity, involves the production and delivery of electrical energy in sufficient quantities to operate domestic appliances, office equipment, industrial machinery and provide sufficient energy for both domestic and commercial lighting, heating, cooking and industrial processes.

History

Although electricity had been known to be produced as a result of the chemical reactions that take place in an electrolytic cell since Alessandro Volta reported doing so in 1800, its production by this means was, and still is, expensive. In 1831, Michael Faraday devised a machine that generated electricity from rotary motion, however it took almost 50 years for the technology to reach a commercially viable stage. In 1878, Thomas Edison developed and sold a commercially viable replacement for gas lighting and heating using locally generated and distributed direct current electricity. In Edison's direct current system, generating stations needed to be close to or on the consumer's premises. To combat losses, and the voltage drops at end of the distribution, extra power generating stations needed to be installed. As Edison was not able to produce a system that permitted multiple generators to be connected together, expansion of his system required whole new generating stations to be constructed. The need for additional power plants is primarily explained by Ohm's law: as losses increase in proportion to the square of the current, or load, and in proportion to the resistance, having long cable runs in the Edison system meant using dangerous voltages in some places, or expensive and large cables or both.

Nikola Tesla, who had worked for Edison for a short time and appreciated the electrical theory in a way that Edison did not, devised an alternative system using alternating current. Tesla realised that while doubling the voltage would halve the current and reduce losses by three-quarters, only an alternating current system allowed the transformation between voltage levels in different parts of the system. He went on to develop the overall theory of his system, devising theoretical and practical alternatives for all of the direct current appliances then in use, and patented his novel ideas in 1887, in thirty separate patents.

In 1888, Tesla's work came to the attention of George Westinghouse, who owned a patent for a transformer and had been operating an alternating current lighting plant in Great Barrington, Massachusetts since 1886. While Westinghouse's system could use Edison's lights and had heaters, it did not have a motor. With Tesla and his patents, Westinghouse built a power system for a gold mine in Teluride in 1891, with a water driven 100 horsepower generator powering a 100 horsepower motor over a 2.5 mile (4 km) power line. Then, in a deal with General Electric, which Edison had been forced to sell, Westinghouse's company went on to construct a power station at the Niagara Falls, with three 5,000 horsepower Tesla generators supplying electricity to an aluminium smelter at Niagara and the town of Buffalo 22 mile (35 km) away. The Niagara power station commenced operation on April 20 1895. Its opening set the scene for the electric power industry for over a hundred years.

Electric Power Today

Today, Tesla's alternating-current electric power system is still the primary means of delivering electrical energy to consumers throughout the world. While high-voltage direct current (HVDC) is used to transmit large quantities of electricity over long distances, the bulk of electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply takes place using alternating current.

In many countries, electric power companies own the whole infrastructure from generating stations to transmission and distribution infrastructure. For this reason, electric power is viewed as a natural monopoly. The industry is generally heavily regulated, often with price controls and is frequently government-owned and operated. In some countries, wholesale electricity markets operate, with generators and retailers trading electricity in a similar manner to shares and currency.

See also

• Electric power transmission
• Electricity distribution
• Distributed generation
• Electricity retailing
• Electricity generation
• Auxiliary power
• Power control
• Power factor
• Power transmission
• Uninterruptible power supply
• Electrical generator
• Electrical bus
• New Zealand Electricity Market
• Electricity market
• Transformer

Further reading:

• The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century - Nicola Tesla, Forgotten Genius of Electricity, Robert Lomas, Headline Book Publishing, London, 1999.

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Electric power."

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Energy

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

From the perspective of physics, every physical system contains (alternatively, stores) a certain amount of a continuous, scalar quantity called energy; exactly how much is determined by taking the sum of a number of special-purpose equations, each designed to quantify energy stored in a particular way. There is no uniform way to visualize energy; it is best regarded as an abstract quantity useful in making predictions.

The first sort of prediction energy allows one to make is how much work a physical system could be made to do. Performing work requires energy, and thus the amount of energy in a system limits the maximum amount of work that a system could conceivably perform. In the one-dimensional case of applying a force through a distance, the energy required is ∫ f(x) dx, where f(x) gives the amount of force being applied as a function of the distance moved.

Note, however, that not all energy in a system is stored in a recoverable form; thus, in practice, the amount of energy in a system available for performing work may be much less than the total amount of energy in the system.

Energy also allows one to make predictions across problem domains. For example, if we assume we are in a closed system (i.e. the conservation of energy applies), we can predict how fast a particular resting body would be made to move if a particular amount of heat were completely transformed into motion in that body. Similarly, it allows us to predict how much heat might result from breaking particular chemical bonds.

The SI unit for both energy and work is the joule (J), named in honor of James Prescott Joule and his experiments on the mechanical equivalent of heat. In slightly more fundamental terms, 1 joule is equal to 1 newton metre, and in terms of SI base units, 1 J equals 1 kg m²/s². (Conversions. In cgs units, one erg is 1 g cm²/s². The imperial/US unit for both energy and work is the foot pound.)

Noether's theorem relates the conservation of energy to the time invariance of physical laws.

Energy is said to exist in a variety of forms, each of which corresponds to a separate energy equation. Some of the more common forms of energy are listed below.

Kinetic energy

Kinetic energy is that portion of energy associated with the motion of a body.

KE = ∫ v·dp

For non-relativistic velocities, we can use the Newtonian approximation

KE = 1/2 mv²

(where KE is kinetic energy, m is mass of the body, v is velocity of the body)

At near-light velocities, we use the relativistic formula:

KE = m_oc²(γ - 1) = γm_oc² - _oc² :γ = (1 - (v/c)²)^-1/2

(where v is the velocity of the body, m_o is its rest mass, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum.)

The second term, mc², is the rest mass energy and the first term, γmc² is the total energy of the body.

Heat

Heat is related to the internal kinetic energy of a mass, but it is not a form of energy. Heat is more akin to work in that it is a change in energy. The energy that heat represents a change specifically refers to the energy associated with the random translational motion of atoms and molecules in some identifiable mass. The conservation of heat and work form the First law of thermodynamics.

Potential energy

Potential energy is energy associated with being able to move to a lower-energy state, releasing energy in some form. For example a mass released above the Earth has energy resulting from the gravitational attraction of the Earth which is transferred in to kinetic energy.

Equation:

E_p=mhg

where m is the mass, h is the height and g is the value of acceleration due to gravity at the Earth's surface.

Chemical energy

Chemical energy a form of potential energy related to the breaking and forming of chemical bonds.

Electrical energy

See Electrical energy.

Electromagnetic radiation

See electromagnetic radiation.

Mass

In the theory of relativity, the energy E of a particle is related to its momentum p and mass m by:

E² = m²c⁴ + p²c²

where c is the speed of light. This equation shows that the mass provides a contribution to the energy. Even if p is zero, the particle has a rest energy that is nonzero if the mass is nonzero. The rest energy is

E₀ = mc² (i.e. 90 petajoule/kg)

See also: Entropy, Enthalpy, Thermodynamics

See also

• energy transmission
• energy storage

External Links

• Robert P Crease, "What does energy really mean?", Physics World, July 2002
  • Online version: http://www.physicsweb.org/article/world/15/7/2
• Conversion Calculator for Units of ENERGY

Further reading

• Feynman, Richard. Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher. Helix Book. See the chapter "conservation of energy" for Feynman's explanation of what energy is, and how to think about it.

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Energy."

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Energy economics

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Energy economics is a subfield of economics that focuses on energy relationships as the foundation of all other relationships. It is a subfield of ecological economics in that it assumes that food chains in ecology are directly analogous to energy supply chains in human industries.

Some theories go much further in assuming that these relationships are decisive, much as Marxist economics assumes that capital (economics) ownership relationships are decisive, in determining human actions on the largest scales.

Buckminster Fuller, in his "Cosmic Costing", was an early advocate of energy economics. Modern theorists of energy economics are also often students of complexity theory, e.g. Joseph Tainter.

The earliest energy economics was considered by some an offshoot of deep ecology movements - sharing the view that human beings can suffer population dieoff when an energy supply is exhausted. This is considered inescapable. Accordingly, a prime motive of energy economics is energy conservation.

Energy efficiency

According to Brian Czech, "Most modern economics has defined "efficiency" in terms of output per personhour instead of output per unit of energy input. Using the former calculation, the American farmer is the most productive in the world. Using the latter, he is the least. (Not only is he subsidized through the use of non-renewable fossil fuels, but he also receives financial subsidies from the government, which are paid for by economic activity that is also based on non-renewable fossil fuels.)

"The "invisible hand" of the modern marketplace has dramatically raised the output of primary and secondary producers to the point where a small percentage of the population involved in these activities are able to support the majority who work in the service sector." [1]

One way to view this increase in productive capacity per person that supports others is as "surplus value", of which modern technology has freed up enormous amounts, letting the service economy "balloon to levels far beyond the wildest dreams of the aristocrats of old." This wealth is quite unevenly distributed, but aside from that, it is only accumulated at great loss to everyone else. Those who take this view are at the convergence of Marxist economics and green economics.

Industrial ecology

Regardless of political stripe, energy economists are often involved in redefining political economy along the lines of ecology and thermodynamics and usually seek monetary reform to reflect the realities of energy inefficiency and waste in industrialized activities. The idea of industrial ecology has emerged in part from these efforts. See Natural Capitalism for a popular framework incorporating these principles.

Environment vs. Economy

Accepting the surplus value framework challenges some long-held views in green economics about labour, which the greens inherited from neoclassical economics:

"The problem with environmentally friendly alternatives to existing practices is that they invariably reduce the output/person/hour, which means that less "surplus value" is being created to support the service sector. To a large degree this is simply because environmental sustainability simply involves redefining "efficiency" to emphasize sustainability instead of output per person. If you set out to do one particular thing, it is a lot easier to do it than if you set out to do another thing first and hope to have something else come about "on the side". And the fact of the matter is that it really does take more people to raise organic carrots than if you use pesticides. This is why organic food costs more. It is simply because we are substituting human labour for environmentally-destructive inputs like pesticides, long-haul trucking, chemical fertilizers and so forth." [1]

While green economics may hold that the economy has "grown even if the new job comes from hoeing carrots instead of teaching the violin," there is a "multiplier effect" to the decline of surplus value: "Every time you add a new producer to a lower trophic level you are also adding a new consumer to the lower level. (This is where the analogy with wildlife biology breaks down---contrary to Swift's Modest Proposal, people on upper trophic levels do not directly eat the people beneath them.) The thwarted violin teacher who ends up hoeing carrots has to eat carrots herself, which means there will be one less unit of surplus value to support the creation of a new violin-teaching job for someone else. So, in effect, she not only doesn't create a new job teaching violin, she is going to take away the food that was needed to support another violin teacher! It is this "multiplier effect" that shrinks the economy." This shrinkage is inevitable even if the number of jobs is steady:

"Employment will open up in the primary and secondary sectors of the economy as people develop more environmentally- sustainable and labour-intensive technology. There will be jobs for people raising organic carrots and building straw-bale homes. But the economy will decline because there will be less "surplus wealth" to purchase goods and services. People will live in strawbale homes and eat organic carrots but they will not be able to hire people to teach them violin---they'll have to teach themselves in their spare time." [1]

So the acceptance of the combination of surplus value and energy-centric views, requires one also to accept the decline of service economy and a role at a lower trophic level (as a low-tech gardener, farmer, fisher) for at least some of the time, for all people.

Energy collapse

This is of course the opposite of current trends to urbanization. In China alone 900 million people are expected to move to the cities in the coming generation. Joseph Tainter has studied about two dozen collapsed civilizations, and in no case was any able to avoid the collapse due to the increasingly top-heavy pyramid of value that stressed the environmental carry capacity to the point where it could not sustain population - ecology calls this a dieoff. Humans would see it as increasing chaos, conflict, and warfare.

"The fact that problem-solving systems seem to evolve to greater complexity, higher costs, and diminishing returns has significant implications for sustainability. In time, systems that develop in this way are either cut off from further finances, fail to solve problems, collapse, or come to require large energy subsidies. This has been the pattern historically in such cases as the Roman Empire, the Lowland Classic Maya, Chacoan Society of the American Southwest, warfare in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, and some aspects of contemporary problem solving (that is, in every case that I have investigated in detail) (Tainter 1988, 1992, 1994b, 1995a)."

In Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies, 1996, Tainter held that "Systems of problem solving develop greater complexity and higher costs over long periods. In time such systems either require increasing energy subsidies or they collapse. Diminishing returns to complexity in problem solving limited the abilities of earlier societies to respond sustainably to challenges, and will shape contemporary responses to global change. To confront this dilemma we must understand both the role of energy in sustaining problem solving, and our historical position in systems of increasing complexity." [2]

"One often-discussed path is cultural and economic simplicity and lower energy costs. This could come about through the "crash" that many fear-a genuine collapse over a period of one or two generations, with much violence, starvation, and loss of population. The alternative is the "soft landing" that many people hope for-a voluntary change to solar energy and green fuelss, energy-conserving technologies, and less overall consumption. This...will come about only if severe, prolonged hardship in industrial nations makes it attractive, and if economic growth and consumerism can be removed from the realm of ideology."

"The more likely option is a future of greater investments in problem solving, increasing overall complexity, and greater use of energy. This option is driven by the material comforts it provides, by vested interests, by lack of alternatives, and by our conviction that it is good. If the trajectory of problem solving that humanity has followed for much of the last 12,000 years should continue, it is the path that we are likely to take in the near future." [2] This current default path leads to human extinction via what ecologists call Easter Island Syndrome.

Energy costs of problem solving

A central argument in energy economics is its relation to complexity. In nature, life is negentropic, meaning, it not only reverses the entropy which over time disorders any given system, but that it sheds disordering heat energy. Its internal organization must become ever more efficient, via evolution, to survive in more environments, on less food, and be less attractive to predators who are not seeking a lean bony meal but a plump one. Evolution can be seen as seeking more energy-efficient forms - as problem-solving. "To discover such innovations requires energy, which underscores the constraints in the energy-complexity relation." [2]

The energy loss of this trial-and-error problem solving in nature is extreme - species emerge, blunder around, destroy entire ecosystems, die off, and are replaced - millions of years of this may lead to few or no improvements in the energy efficiency of a life form. Also, even very efficient forms may be evolved for a particular environment that itself changes, letting those forms that invest less in defense, say, push forward as predatory threats ease.

Tainter notes, however, that even the energy costs of finding and extracting energy itself, are not known at present.

See also

• list of economics topics
• list of environment topics

External links

• [1] Shovelling Fuel for a Runaway Train - Brian Czech
• [2] Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies, Joseph Tainter, published in Getting Down to Earth: Practical Applications of Ecological Economics, Island Press, 1996; ISBN 1-55963-503-7
• Tainter, J. A. 1988. The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Tainter, J. A. 1992. Evolutionary consequences of war. In Effects of War on Society, ed. G. Ausenda, pp. 103-130. San Marino: Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress.
• Tainter, J. A. 1994a. Southwestern contributions to the understanding of core-periphery relations. In Understanding Complexity in the Prehistoric Southwest, eds. G. J. Gumerman, and M. Gell-Mann, pp. 25-36. Santa Fe Institute, Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Proceedings

Volume XVI. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

• Tainter, Joseph A. 1994b. La fine dell'amministrazione centrale: il collaso dell'Impero romano in

Occidente. In Storia d'Europa, Volume Secondo: Preistoria e Antichita, eds. Jean Guilaine and Salvatore Settis, pp. 1207-1255. Turin: Einaudi.

• Tainter, J. A. 1995a. Sustainability of complex societies. Futures 27: 397-407.
• Tainter, J. A. 1995b. Introduction: prehistoric societies as evolving complex systems. In: Evolving Complexity and Environmental Risk in the Prehistoric Southwest, eds. J. A. Tainter and B. B

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Energy economics."

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Energy flow

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

In following energy or calorific flow in an ecosystem, ecologists seek to quantify the relative importance of different component species and feeding relationships.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Energy flow."

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Energy, Illinois

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Energy is a village located in Williamson County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 1,175.

Geography

Energy is located at 37°46'21" North, 89°1'32" West (37.772398, -89.025519)¹. According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 3.1 km² (1.2 mi²). 3.1 km² (1.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.84% is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 1,175 people, 481 households, and 304 families residing in the village. The population density is 381.2/km² (990.9/mi²). There are 519 housing units at an average density of 168.4/km² (437.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the village is 97.62% White, 0.94% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.00% from other races, and 0.94% from two or more races. 0.60% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 481 households out of which 24.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.9% are married couples living together, 10.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% are non-families. 30.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 12.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.19 and the average family size is 2.71. In the village the population is spread out with 17.5% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 28.3% from 45 to 64, and 20.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 44 years. For every 100 females there are 84.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 80.8 males. The median income for a household in the village is $28,750, and the median income for a family is $39,554. Males have a median income of $27,446 versus $21,250 for females. The per capita income for the village is $14,656. 12.1% of the population and 7.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 12.5% are under the age of 18 and 4.9% are 65 or older.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Energy, Illinois."

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Qi

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Qi or, as spelled in Wade-Giles, ch'i (氣 in pinyin: "qi4"), is defined as "life energy" or "spiritual energy" that is part of everything that exists. Also known as Ki (Japanese) or Gi (Korean). References to this sort of "metaphysical" energy are used in certain belief systems, primarily in Asia. The common pronunciation is as in the English "key".

The philosophical origins of qi stem from the earliest times in Chinese thinking. One of the most important figures in Chinese culture is Huang Di or the Yellow Emperor. He collected and formalized what became Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine, these systems assert that the body has natural patterns of this energy associated with it that flows throughout the body in channels called Meridians. Illness is the product of disrupted energy movement. Traditional Chinese Medicine attempts to correct physical maladies by balancing the flow of qi in the body using various techniques. Some of these techniques include herbal medicines, special diets, and acupuncture (which uses tiny metal spines inserted into the skin to reroute qi flow) among others.

Traditional Asian martial arts theories also discuss qi. For instance, Internal Systems attempt to cultivate and direct this energy during combat as well as to ensure proper health. Many other martial arts include some concept of qi in their philosophy.

Modern scientific and medical efforts have not demonstrated the existence of qi. Many modern researchers believe that other mechanisms may explain demonstrated results from acupuncture or other practices.

There is active research comparing Qi to biophotons. Mainstream science considers all claims of Qi actually existing to be religious claims that have no physical reality or proof. Claims that qi has been related to any physical or biological phenomenon are regarded as pseudoscience.

Currently, individuals investigating 'Qi' promote three differing perspectives regarding its qualities and processes: (1) that these energies exist but do not affect organic life in any way; (2) that subtle energies are a "fifth force," distinctly different from the other four standard forces; or (3) that the variations and complexities of subtle energies manifest the four forces and elements that compose all force and matter. This last perspective, if proven true, would indicate that 'Qi' is a particular expression of space at the sub-quark level.

See also: Qigong, Kundalini, Chakra, Martial arts, Tai Chi Chuan, Taoism, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wu Xia film, New Age, Aikido, shiatsu

Resources: ENERGY MEDICINE: The Scientific Basis, by James L. Oschman, PhD, Churchill Livingston, 2000

Qi (齊 qi2) is also the name of several states in Chinese history. See Qi (state). Qi (旗 qi2) were Banners, the Manchu organizations.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Qi."

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QI

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

QI, standing for Quite Interesting, is a BBC Two panel game hosted by Stephen Fry. It is distiguished by the awarding of points not necessarily for the correct answer but rather for an interesting answer, and the deduction of large numbers of points for an obvious but wrong answer.

Panellists include Alan Davies, who has appeared in all episodes, John Sessions, Rich Hall, Bill Bailey, Jo Brand, Dave Gorman and Richard E. Grant.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "QI."

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United States Department of Energy

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Dept. of Energy Established: August 4, 1977 Activated: October 1, 1977 Secretary: Spencer Abraham Deputy Secretary: Kyle E. McSlarrow Budget: $19.8 billion (2003) Employees: 16,000 federal 100,000 contractors (2003)

The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. Its purview includes the nation's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, energy-related research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production.

Many federal agencies have been established to handle various aspects of U.S. energy policy, dating back to the creation of the Manhattan Project and the subsequent Atomic Energy Commission. The impetus for putting them all under the auspices of a single department was the 1973 energy crisis, in response to which President Jimmy Carter proposed creation of the department. The enabling legislation was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Carter on August 4, 1977. The department was activated on October 1, 1977. The agency is administered by the United States Secretary of Energy.

Operating Units

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is an independent regulatory agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. The Department also manages the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Laboratories administered by the Department include:

• Albany Research Center
• Ames National Laboratory
• Argonne National Laboratory
• Argonne National Laboratory (West)
• Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Environmental Measurements Laboratory
• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
• Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• National Energy Technology Laboratory
• National Petroleum Technology Office
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• New Brunswick Laboratory
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
• Radiological & Environmental Sciences Laboratory
• Sandia National Laboratory
• Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
• Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
• Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator
• Yucca Mountain

Power marketing organizations controlled by the Department include:

• Bonneville Power Administration
• Southeastern Power Administration
• Southwestern Power Administration
• Western Area Power Administration

Related Legislation

• 1946 - Atomic Energy Act PL 79-585
• 1954 - Atomic Energy Act Amendments PL 83-703
• 1956 - Colorado River Storage Project PL 84-485
• 1957 - Atomic Energy Commission Acquisition of Property PL 85-162
• 1957 - Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act PL 85-256
• 1968 - Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act PL 90-481
• 1973 - Mineral Leasing Act Amendments (Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline Authorization) PL 93-153
• 1974 - Energy Reorganization Act PL 93-438
• 1975 - Energy Policy and Conservation Act PL 94-163
• 1977 - Department of Energy established PL 95-91
• 1978 - Comprehensive energy package PL 95-617, 618, 619, 620
• 1980 - Energy Security Act PL 96-294
• 1989 - Natural Gas Wellhead Decontrol Act PL 101-60
• 1992 - Energy Policy Act PL 102-486

External Links

• United States Department of Energy website

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "United States Department of Energy."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Energy

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Synonyms within Context: Energy

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Modern Usage: Energy

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Commercial Usage: Energy

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Image Slideshow: Energy

Illustrations: Energy More pictures...

Computer Images: Energy More pictures...

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Photo Album: Energy

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Members of the Technical Development Laboratory staff operating a device which measures the energy required to pump a hand-powered spray can. Credit: CDC.		The energy source needed to create and maintain the galactic jet in galaxy PKS 0521-36 is ... Credit: NASA.
	Feasibility studies for potential nuclear waste dump site Conducted for Atomic Energy Commission. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.		Efforts to preserve shoreline along the Severn River include installation of segmented jetties to diffuse wave energy. Credit: America's Coastlines.
	A coral fragment is cross-wired to keep it secure in the high energy environment at the fringing reef at Mona Island. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.		The first in a series of images showing NOAA scientists at the 1997 transplant site just before transplanting the eelgrass turf. Scientists worked in dry suits in the cold Bay waters and used surface air supplies at the mostly shallow sites. Zostera marina requires a specific set of physical conditions to thrive. The plants need light, nutrients and protection from excessive wave energy. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.
	Stromatolites are club-shaped structures formed by a slow buildup of microbial mats trapping ooid sands. These form in high energy channels where migrating sand dunes and chemical precipitation of carbonate cement are dominant seafloor processes. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).		Hydrothermal vent tubeworms get energy from bacteria that live in their plumes. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).
	Figure 8. Integrating solarimeter - measures energy developed from solar radiation based on the absorption of heat by a black body. The principle this instrument was designed on was first developed by the Italian priest, Father Angelo Bellani. He invented the actinometric method which is based on physical and chemical techniques. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.		Figure 28. Model of a machine for generating electricity based on differences of temperature between the sea surface and great depth. This "thermal machine" was devised by the physicist Georges Claude and the engineer Paul Boucherot in 1926. It was an application of Carnot's theorem and was a forerunner of the modern ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) project. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Energy
 

"High Stress Energy" by César Rodríguez Commentary: "Sky with wire pollution."	"Wind energy" by Rene Drost Commentary: "Picture of a windmill for wind energy against a blue sky. (4 Mp picture also available)."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Sounds Captioned with "Energy".

Play	Caption
	High energy piece typical of a television show or commercial from the 1980's.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Energy

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Historic Usage: Energy

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Use in Literature: Energy

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Non-Fiction Usage: Energy

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Spoken Usage: Energy

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Speeches: Energy