Energy and the Environment

Environmental effects caused by energy sources and their use are then analyzed, to provide possible solutions to any damage caused by them, again filtered by the author’s experience in the field. The fundamental energy that sustains human life—food energy—comes from plants using photosynthesis to convert sunlight and CO₂ into living tissue. Even last night’s hamburger can be traced back to the grasses and grain eaten by the cows—energy converted into food by the direct and indirect action of sunlight. Energy, in the form of light, is recorded in the Bible as the initiation of the world as we know it. It was the beginning—the big bang—that scientists now view as an extremely violent one, packed with dense and incomprehensible types and amounts of energy. Since the Universe is a closed system, the amount of energy in it remains constant. The different energies in it, however, can and do change their form, shape and quantity.