Energy is "the ability to do work." For everyone and everything, that means being able to grow and move. Energy is measured in joules (J). Energy cannot be made or destroyed, but it can change from one form to another. Energy is either potential energy, (stored energy) or kinetic energy, (movement energy).
We can also describe energy as having different forms, for example atomic energy (nuclear energy), chemical energy, electrical energy, heat energy, light energy, mechanical energy, and radiation energy (including solar radiation). “Energy is one of the most fundamental parts of our universe.” (Web,1)
The energy we use every day comes from resources. Resources are broken up into two categories—renewable and nonrenewable.
RENEWABLE RESOURCES
“Renewable resources are those that can be used or made over and over again from other resources—they are unlimited. Wood is a renewable resource because more trees can be grown to make more wood”. (Nairobi, 1990)
NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Nonrenewable resources cannot be created over again and our supply of them is limited; once they run out, the resource is gone forever. Coal is an example of a nonrenewable resource because there is only so much of it on earth. Once we have mined it all, we will need to reuse it in order to have more for other uses.
BIOMASS
Biomass is the oldest of the renewable energy sources and, in Ireland, its main use is as wood fuel. Another source of Biomass energy comes from the production of biogas.
“Utilization of biomass may be called regenerative when the closing of the carbon cycle from compounding to releasing and renewed compounding takes place in periods of time that may be observed by man. This is the specific difference between biomass and fossil energy resources, where compounding of carbon took place several millions of....
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