Fundamental Forces

To understand how to use energy wisely we must understand the 'rules'. Physics is the science of the natural world, and within physics the branch that has the use of energy at its heart is thermodynamics.

One of the central rules of physics is The Conservation Law. Matter and energy are constant – we do not 'use' energy but instead modify its form imperfectly and so degrade its quality. This is important because once we degrade the quality of energy (by burning a fuel, turning electricity into mechanical motion, etc.) we cannot regain its 'quality' again – it's a one-way process (as explained below).

The Laws of Thermodynamics govern the detail of how human society uses energy. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that within any system the level of activity is proportional to the quantity of energy flowing through it. This is important when we look at energy resources as a whole. If we degrade the quality of energy then the 'dense' energy resources society requires will slowly dwindle until there are none left – at which point human society will have to live at a radically lower level of activity.

Perhaps the most significant rule that defines our use of energy is The Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that energy, rather like a river, always flows downhill. As noted above, degrading the quality of energy is a one-way process. We could of course pump water back 'up the hill', in effect using energy to reconstitute the quality of the original fuel, but the Second Law commands that doing so will always use more energy than was released in the first instance. The Second Law also defines how efficiency operates (which is explained in detail in the Less is a Four Letter Word presentation).

Our use of energy is based upon four fundamental forces. The characteristics of these forces determine how we source, store and use energy: The Strong Nuclear Force is the force that binds the atomic nucleus, and is the source of nuclear (fusion and fission) power; the Weak Nuclear Force is the energy released through the radioactive decay of atoms, and is what keeps the Earth's core hot and provides geothermal energy; the Electromagnetic Force is the force created by the shell of the nucleus, and it gives us electricity, chemistry, magnetism, and electromagnetic waves (pretty much the whole basis of modern society!); finally the Gravitational Force keeps our planet in orbit, makes things fall, and so is the source of hydro-power.

Ultimately all forms of energy will degrade to the lowest form of energy – heat. Heat is a wasteful by-product of the conversion of energy, as are other forms of pollution, because it represents a loss of useful energy and resources.

Background Information

For more information on the physics behind this slide see Wikipedia:

• Conservation of energy – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
  Conservation_of_energy
• Fundamental forces – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
  Fundamental_forces
• Thermodynamics – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
  Thermodynamics
• Laws of Thermodynamics – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
  Laws_of_thermodynamics

The 'Virtual' Less is a Four Letter Word Presentation – the on-line version of the Less presentation, http://www.fraw.org.uk/less/presentation/

The Annotated 2-hour EBO Presentation Slides (3.7 megabyte!!) – a PDF file containing explanatory text and web links relating to each of the slides in the 2-hour Energy Beyond Oil presentation. http://www.fraw.org.uk/download/ebo/
ebo_annotated-2008.pdf

Large format EBO presentation slides (1.7 megabyte!!) – a PDF file with a larger copy of the slide images in the presentation. http://www.fraw.org.uk/download/ebo/
ebo_presentation-2008.pdf