BURN: Water & Energy

There is no easy answer to what is the best source of energy or electricity. Is the priority reliability, affordability, the economy, international human rights, limiting greenhouse gas emissions, preserving environmental resources, or human health?

It’s undeniable that today — whether we like it or not —…

A little bit about nuclear fission and fusion, radioactivity, isotopes, and half-lives.

How dangerous is radiation? Does it matter what kind it is?

Energy accounted for almost 40 percent of water use in 2000, according to figures by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The United States took more than 400 billion gallons of water out of the ground, lakes, rivers, and reservoirs daily in 2005. That’s more than a thousand gallons per person, per day.

You don’t have to talk about hurricanes and tsunamis to know that the oceans are powerful. People have dreamed about harnessing their energies for centuries, and today there are many projects worldwide experimenting with just how to plug into the oceans.

The world depends on fossil fuels for its energy, and the United States is no exception. The vast majority of U.S. energy — more than 80 percent in 2009 — comes from burning fossil fuels.

Adding up fuel prices, taxes, power lines, and hidden costs to the environment and human health.

An infographic chart of fossils and renewable energy types, comparing costs, sources, and environmental effects.

Water is created and destroyed in natural chemical reactions within plants and animals. However, most water sticks around. It changes phases through the “water cycle”; it can become polluted with salt, toxic chemicals, or pathogenic organisms. However, it generally doesn’t go away, globally speaking.