Understanding Energy Accounting

THE FLOW OF ENERGY ON THE EARTH

You must be wondering what has the flow of energy on the earth to do with Energy Accounting?
This explains first that all living organisms on the earth live and function in a veritable `sea of energy.' Second, that one species can enjoy an advantage over another either by an increase in the amount of energy used, by an increase in efficiency of conversion, or a combination of amount and efficiency. It will also be seen that all of this energy, regardless of its many processes of conversion from one form to another, is always measurable according to the Laws of Thermodynamics. It will also be noted that all movement upon the earth, which means all work done, all functions performed, is the result of the use of the energy and its conversion from one form to another, and is the result of the use of energy, always measurable, and that the measurements can be stated in terms of units that never vary or fluctuate. A Technocracy Postulate: "all the phenomena involved in the operation of a social mechanism or any mechanism are metrical." (can be measured using energy accounting) We see further that the only common denominator upon which all operations rest is energy. It should then be clear that all functional operations originating in energy, are continued by process of energy conversion, are measurable in energy units, and end in the degradation of energy into waste heat. Therefore functional processes can only be considered intelligently in terms of energy, and can only be controlled accurately by a system which balances with maximum energy requirements namely Technocracy’s Technological Continental Social Design.

While energy may be manifested in various forms, such as heat, chemical energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, etc., and may be changed from one of its various forms to another, none of it is ever lost, but that all of it tends to be dissipated into waste heat. Engines, as we have seen, whether animate or man-made, do not create energy, but merely utilize a supply of available energy for doing work. The available energy used by various engines usually occurs in two forms---mechanical energy as in the case of waterfalls or the wind, and chemical energy, as in the case of fuels and food.

Energy of Running Water
The end product of all of this energy is waste heat, but until now we have not inquired as to where it came from in the first place. Take the waterfall for example, which is continually dissipating energy. The water in the river was originally derived from rain, and this was in turn evaporated principally from the ocean. Now we have already seen that to evaporate water required energy. At ordinary temperatures 585 gram calories of heat are required to evaporate one gram of water. Since ocean water does evaporate, this heat must be supplied, but where does it come from? Obviously the only source of heat in the open ocean is the sunshine; the sun shines upon the ocean and other bodies of water, and its energy is used to produce evaporation. Another part of the sun's energy heats the earth's atmosphere, and, by causing it to expand, produces winds. In this manner the evaporated water is carried over the land. Then, upon cooling, the water vapor in the atmosphere condenses and falls as rain and snow, and this in turn produces rivers. Hence, the energy of a waterfall is originally derived from the energy of sunshine.

Energy of Plants and Animals
Where does the energy contained in food and fuels come from? We have already seen that when foods and fuels are combined chemically with oxygen the combustion produces chiefly carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor, while in the process heat is released. Since heat is not spontaneously created, a similar heat supply had to be provided when water vapor and carbon dioxide were originally united to produce the food and fuel products.

A large class of foods, such as grains, vegetables, et cetera, are derived directly from plants. A large amount of fuels such as wood and coal are likewise plant products. Coal is simply the consolidated remains of forests which grew in past geological ages, and have been preserved from decay by being buried under great thicknesses of rock. Hence, most of the energy contained in our food and fuel is derived directly from plants.

Some foods, and to a slight extent some fuels (whale oil, for example are derived not from plants, but from animals. In all cases, however, the energy contained in the animal tissues was derived from the animals' diet of plants or other herbivorous animals. Thus we see that all energy contained in animal tissue, and used to operate the animal bodies, is derived directly or indirectly from the chemical energy of plants.

The energy contained in petroleum has not yet been discussed. It has now been established beyond a doubt that petroleum has been derived from plants and animals of the geologic past which have been preserved from decay by burial under great thicknesses of rock. Hence, this energy is also derived from plants.

It remains to be seen where and how the plants get their energy. It is a matter of common observation on farms that a weed such as a cocklebur, if growing alone on an open piece of ground, will reach only a moderate height of about three feet and will spread laterally until its lateral diameter is also about three feet. If the cocklebur, however, is only one of a thick patch of cocklebur plants growing about six inches apart, then it will develop a long, slender stalk reaching a height of five or six feet, with almost no leaves except a small tuft directly on top. This same type of thing is true for all kinds of plants. Oak trees in an oak thicket have long slender trunks, whereas the same kind of oak trees when alone will form the familiar widely-branching tree.

When plants are placed in a house or cellar where little sunlight is available, the leaves usually lose the familiar green color and turn white or yellow, the plant loses its vigor of growth, and eventually dies. Grass on a shady lawn frequently dies out, and has to be reset. Among plants the struggle for existence is, among other things, largely a struggle for sunshine. Raw materials from which plants are composed are chiefly carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen plus a small amount of nitrogen and mineral matter. Water is required by plants, and this water is derived from the moisture of the soil. The mineral matter, likewise, is the ordinary salts which are contained in solution by the water of the soil. The carbon is derived from the carbon dioxide which is contained in the air. The nitrogen is likewise derived from the air. We can represent this as follows:

6CO2 + 5H2O = C6H10O5 + 602
carbon dioxide + water Yields cellulose oxygen

Cellulose plus lignin, a similar material, compose the woody material of plants. We have already seen that the chemical combination of wood with oxygen releases heat, as follows:

C6H10O5 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 5H2O + heat
cellulose + oxygen Yields carbon dioxide + water

It will be noticed that the production of plant substance is chemically exactly the opposite from the burning of wood. Since energy is released when wood is burned, then an exact equal amount of energy must have been required when the wood was formed in the first place. Accordingly, the formation of wood may be represented:

6CO2 + 5H2O + energy = C6H10O5 + 6O2
carbon dioxide + water Yields cellulose oxygen

Where does the energy come from? It has been found that in this case, the energy is derived from the sunshine or other sources of light. This accounts for the fact that the plants seem to compete with each other for sunlight.

Chlorophyll as a Converter of Energy
The green substance in the leaves of plants is called chlorophyll. In the presence of chlorophyll solar energy is converted into chemical energy, as water and carbon dioxide combine to form plant substance.

We have now seen that almost all of the energy used by man, whether derived from wind or water power, from coal or oil, or from other animals or plants, is derived ultimately from the sunshine. Exceptions to this are energy derived from tides, or from volcanic heat from the earth's interior. These exceptions are at present of little importance, and will probably continue to be so in the future.

From the foregoing it is evident that most of the activity---most of the movements of matter---on the face of the earth are directly or indirectly the result of sunshine.

Energy, of Solar Radiation.
The energy contained in the solar radiation as it impinges on the earth has been measured. It has been found that the solar radiation upon a square centimeter of surface taken at right angles to the sun's rays will, if converted into heat, produce 1.94 gram calories of heat per minute of time. This relationship is strictly true only just outside the earth's atmosphere; on the earth's surface, the heat per minute is somewhat less than this due to the fact that some of the heat is absorbed by the earth's atmosphere.

It may give one a better idea of the enormous quantity of energy contained in sunshine if one considers that the average sunshine per day on one square mile at Washington, D.C., would, if converted into mechanical work, equal 20 million horse-power hours. It is easy to see what an enormous amount of energy per day the total solar radiation on the entire earth must be.

Since energy is not destroyed, we must now determine how it happens that with such an enormous amount of heat arriving daily from the sun the earth does not get continually hotter and hotter. We have geological evidence that the intensity of sunshine on the earth has been practically the same for many millions of years. We also know that the earth has had about the same temperature during that time. Therefore, the earth must be losing energy at about the same rate it is receiving it.

Flow of Solar Energy
Let us trace the energy received from the sun and see what becomes of it. Of the total energy contained in the solar radiation which impinges upon the earth, approximately 37 percent is reflected back into space. Another part of the energy of the sunshine is directly absorbed by objects upon which it falls and is converted into heat; still another part produces the evaporation of water; another part is consumed in expanding the gases of the atmosphere and the ocean waters, producing winds and ocean currents. Finally a part is converted by the chlorophyll of the plants into the chemical energy required by plant-eating animals and these latter finally become the food for carnivorous animals. As we have already shown, a part of the plant energy may be converted into mechanical work by means of man-made engines; in a similar manner the energy of waterfalls which ordinarily is dissipated as waste heat, may be made to drive machinery before finally being reduced to waste heat. The end product of all these processes is, however, low-temperature waste heat.

Due to the fact that the earth is not getting hotter, the earth must be losing heat at the same rate it is receiving heat from the sunshine. This loss of heat is accomplished by means of long wavelength, invisible heat radiation which the earth radiates out into space. This type of thing is well illustrated in the case of a closed automobile, parked in the hot sunshine. The temperature in the car stays several degrees higher than the temperature outside the car, which is due to the fact that sunshine, which is short wave radiation, passes readily through the glass windows. When it strikes the cushions of the car it is absorbed, and produces heat. These cushions then emit a long wave-length radiation, which can pass only with difficulty through the glass windows; consequently, the temperature of the interior of the car rises until enough heat can be radiated to allow the escaping energy to be equal to that coming in. Thereafter the temperature does not change. Clouds in the earth's atmosphere act in a similar manner-they tend to block the escaping long wave-length radiation. That is the reason it rarely frosts on a cloudy night.

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Now we wish to focus attention, in a general everyday way, on a very remarkable engine that has not been previously discussed; namely, the human body.

A steam engine, as we saw, takes in coal and oxygen, and gives out, as products of combustion, water vapor, carbon dioxide and cinders. Besides this it produces heat and work in driving the steam engine. In an analogous manner, the human body takes in food and oxygen, and gives out carbon dioxide, water vapor and waste products. Besides this, heat is produced inside the body, and the body is enabled to do work. Human food is just as much a fuel as is coal or gasoline, or wood. Exactly the same kind of tests have been made to determine the heat value of food, to determine the heat value of coal, gasoline, etc. The apparatus that is used to determine the heat value of fuels is called a calorimeter. The 'calories' contained in various kinds of food have become a household expression, but few people realize what is meant; what is actually meant, is that food of a certain kind has been burned in a calorimeter and the heat produced by one gram of food has been carefully measured and stated in terms of kilogram calories produced by one gram of food. Hence, the 'calorie' that one commonly hears spoken of in regard to food is a kilogram calorie.

Heat Value of Foods
There are three fundamental kinds of food substances: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Chemically, a protein consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen plus a small amount of sulphur, nutrient, and mineral matter. Both carbohydrates and fats are composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

Food - Carbon - Hydrogen - Oxygen - Nitrogen
Proteins - 52% - 7% - 23% - 16%
Carbohydrates - 44.4% - 6.2% - 49.4% - 0%
Fats - 76.6% - 11.9% - 11.5% - 0% (Percentages in the above table are by weight.)

Examples of proteins: White of eggs, curd of milk and lean meat.
Examples of carbohydrates: Sugar and starch.
Examples of fats: Fat of meats, butter, lard and olive oil.
Most foods are a mixture of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

On the average, in temperate climates, out of each 100 grams of food eaten, approximately 16 grams are proteins, 75 grams are carbohydrates, and 9 grams are fat. This food is taken into the body, oxygen in the air is taken in by breathing, and combines chemically inside the body with the food. Energy in the form of heat and work is released. Food plus oxygen equals carbon dioxide plus water plus waste products plus energy (heat and work). The heat produced by 100 grams of this average diet would be about 457 kilogram calories, provided all of this were digested.

This provides us with a scientific way of rating human beings; we can rate them by the amount of energy they consume or degrade per day. Men on the average consume about 2,800 kilogram calories per person per day; women consume about 2,000 kilogram calories per person per day on the average. The average energy consumed per capita per day by all the people in the United States, young and old alike, is about 2,300 kilogram calories. The significant thing about all this for our purpose is that it is possible to determine exactly how much energy is contained in various kinds of foods, and then after they are eaten to determine how much heat and work they can produce. This latter is accomplished by placing a man in a large heat-tight calorimeter, and measuring very accurately over a given time period the amount of heat given off by his body. At the same time the amount of oxygen he breathes, and the amount of carbon dioxide that he gives off, are also accurately measured. If the person is lying quietly and doing no work, it has been found that the heat given off in a given time is exactly equal to that contained in the food 'burned' or oxidized in that time.

By this manner it is also possible to determine how much work a given amount of food can be made to produce, or the efficiency of the human engine. This is accomplished by having the man turn a crank or pedal a bicycle attached to an instrument called an ergometer. The ergometer measures how much work has been done by the man; the calorimeter at the same time measures the heat given off. In this case it has been found that the energy represented by the heat given off and the work done by the man are exactly equal to the energy contained in the food 'burned' during that time.

Efficiency of the Human Engine.
Remembering that the efficiency of any engine is determined by the ratio of the work done by that engine to the total energy degraded in a given time period, it is now possible to determine the efficiency of the human engine. The maximum efficiency of the human engine has been found to be only about 25 percent. Due to the fact that the human engine, while still alive, never completely shuts down, and therefore never ceases to degrade energy, the efficiency is zero when no outside work is being done; that is to say, when the body is at rest. This basic rate of consuming energy while at rest amounts on the average to 1700 kilogram calories per adult person per day.

When physical work is done the rate of energy consumption very rapidly increases. A strong man doing heavy physical labor can perform approximately 2,000,000 foot-pounds of work in a ten-hour day, or 1/10 of one horsepower for a 10-hour day. In order to do this he will require approximately 5,000 kilogram calories per 24 hours.

By way of contrast, work involving little physical activity, such as writing, or various kinds of desk work, involve very little energy expenditure. It has been found that the additional energy required for intense mental work amounts only to about four kilogram calories per hour. In other words the most difficult thinking requires additional energy per hour equal approximately to I gram of sugar or to one-half a peanut. Indeed, so small is the amount of energy required to think that a housemaid engaged in sweeping and dusting the study of a college professor would expend as much energy in three minutes as the professor would expend in an hour of intensive study at his books.

One frequently hears careless talk about 'nervous' energy, 'mental' energy, 'creative' energy and other such expressions, which imply not only that there are numerous unrelated kinds of energy, but that energy associated with the human body is different from energy as manifested in calorimeters and steam engines. It is also implied that human beings are somehow or other spontaneous sources of work or energy. From what has been shown here it becomes evident that all such expressions have no basis in fact, and are therefore sheer nonsense. There is only one fundamental energy which, as we defined above, is the capacity to perform, physical work. Engines of any kind are not creators of energy; they are, instead, converters of energy from one form to another in exact accordance with the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The laws of thermodynamics are no respecters of persons, and they hold as fast and rigorously in the case of the human body as they do in man-made engines. A human body takes the chemical energy from food and converts it into heat and work on a 24-hour basis. Rarely as much as 10 percent of this energy taken in is converted into work. Consequently, in spite of anything we can do, man is a dissipater of energy and it is not possible for him by any amount of work he may do ever to repay the amount of energy that he required in doing that work.

Summary
Solar radiation impinges upon the earth as a short wave-length radiation, and thereafter undergoes a series of energy changes, each one of which, in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics, is at a lower scale of degradation than that preceding it. Finally, it is re-radiated back into space as spent long wave radiation. During, and as a consequence of this process, the wind blows, rivers flow, and plants and animals grow, and propagate their kind, and most of the other events on the face of the earth take place.

Since the total flow of energy on the earth is practically a constant, it follows that there is not likely to be any cessation or diminution of this process for a long time to come. While the total flow of energy on the earth's surface is essentially constant, the resulting picture, in terms of the configuration of the earth's surface and of plant and animal life, is continuously changing. This change is itself uni-directional and irreversible; that is to say, it never repeats itself.

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From chapter 7 Technocracy Study Course (for members)
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