Transcript:

[Dr. Scott W. Tinker] Hey, I’m Scott Tinker and welcome to the Switch Energy Lab video series for ages 10 to 100. Let’s get started with a few of the basics. We use energy in mostly three ways: to make electricity, to transport ourselves and products, and to make heat. Eighty percent of global energy comes from fossil fuels–coal, oil, and natural gas. We call these fossil fuels because they started as plants and animals but were buried and concentrated with heat and pressure over millions of years. Biomass makes up about 10 percent of global energy. (Biomass) is mostly wood, straw and dung. Forty percent of the people on earth today get energy still from biomass. Biofuels are just 1 percent. (Biofuels) are also plants and animals and we convert these to ethanol and biodiesel. Ninety-one percent of global energy are fuels and we convert those the useful energy by burning them and that produces emissions like CO₂ and water vapor. The other 9 percent of global energy comes from this side. Four percent is generated by nuclear reactors, 3 percent, dams and other hydro facilities, and wind, solar, and geothermal together, about 2 percent. Now, we don’t burn these so they produce fewer emissions like CO₂. These energies go into electricity, transportation, and heat in different ways. Coal (is) mostly electricity. Oil is for transportation. Biomass is used mostly for heat, and biofuels mostly for transportation. Natural gas is a versatile fuel. It’s used for electricity. It’s used for heat, and, increasingly, in transportation. These 3 go into electricity, and these 2, into heat…and a bit into electricity. In this Energy Lab series we’re going to start with electricity since it represents nearly half of our energy use. We’ll look at fossil fuels next since they’re such a large share, then biomass, nuclear, and the renewables. This gives you a good overview of how we use energy. Take a minute to look at it and then let’s get started.