Kinetic and Potential Energy and Living a Low Cost Lifestyle
Throughput, the efficiency at which resources can be moved through a system is not well understood by most of the global population and yet it is essential in addressing climate change, poverty, social unrest, human migration, war, etc. Simply put, a low throughput society uses fewer resources than a high throughput society. In reducing throughput the concepts of kinetic and potential energy play a major role by providing a foundation for developing low throughput technologies. The concepts of kinetic and potential energy alone are quite simple: Potential energy is stored energy while kinetic energy is energy associated with motion.. The classic example is an object resting on a cliff (potential energy) which is then pushed producing kinetic energy as it falls. The source of the energy is important to the low throughput paradigm and the two readily available primary energy sources are solar and gravity. We can harness the energy of wind and moving water (hydro) which is the result of solar and gravity. In the case of hydro the heat from the sun evaporates water creating water vapor which move upward, there the vapors cool, condense into precipitation and return back to the Earth due to gravity. Wind is also the result of this solar gravity interplay. The sun heats up parts of the Earth differently due to different conditions, such as cloud cover or the seasons. The heated air expands while the cooler air contracts and gravity’s influence is stronger on the cooler denser air resulting in the cooler air sinking while the expanded, less dense air rises causing a pressure differential. The cooler denser air produces higher pressure than the warmer less dense air and the movement from high pressure to low pressure produces air movement (wind). Waves are mostly formed by the transfer of energy from wind to water with added help of gravitational pull of the sun and moon, again from the interaction of solar and gravity. Since wind and hydro are a result of the solar-gravity interplay they can be considered as secondary energy sources and since electricity is produced by one or more further steps in the interaction of solar and gravity we could consider electricity as a tertiary energy source. Essentially, if the energy source is mined and/or shipped or transferred in any fashion, the result is usually an increase in throughput.
The interplay of solar and gravity set up the conditions that produce the weather such as wind and rain
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Houses on elevated hillsides with carbon rich terraces slow the downward flow of water as the water is stored in the ground. When water is held by the carbon rich soil it is a form of potential (stored) energy for the homeowner to use at a later date. Minerals within the water are also held in place and stimulate microbial growth which provides a healthy condition for plant growth. Plants are for the most part stationary providing another form of potential energy as a food source. This is the opposite of what our society has developed as a hard wired paradigm. Water flows off from roof tops onto a compacted, deficient in carbon, soil and with drain pipes, the flow continues to move away downhill from house sites, and it is this ever increasing amount of kinetic energy which is washing away our roads and bridges downstream. Not only is this system much more costly to install, the resources (costs in money) to mitigate the consequences are being diverted from education, infrastructure and health services.
Houses on elevated hillsides with carbon rich terraces slow the downward flow of water as the water is stored in the ground. When water is held by the carbon rich soil it is a form of potential (stored) energy for the homeowner to use at a later date. Minerals within the water are also held in place and stimulate microbial growth which provides a healthy condition for plant growth. Plants are for the most part stationary providing another form of potential energy as a food source. This is the opposite of what our society has developed as a hard wired paradigm. Water flows off from roof tops onto a compacted, deficient in carbon, soil and with drain pipes, the flow continues to move away downhill from house sites, and it is this ever increasing amount of kinetic energy which is washing away our roads and bridges downstream. Not only is this system much more costly to install, the resources (costs in money) to mitigate the consequences are being diverted from education, infrastructure and health services.
Large hydro plants supply electricity at a cost of losing the kinetic energy when water flows from elevated land then using a tertiary energy source the water is pumped back up hill
By keeping electrical lines to a short distance the loss of energy through the lines is less, the total resources used is less, and if not connected to the grid the vulnerability to system failure is less
As we turn to alternative energy such as solar, wind or hydro, kinetic and potential energy must be fully understood. If we mainly concentrate on global warming we will continue to power a high throughput system resulting in the continued exponential growth of resource use. When demand for limited resources increases, prices rise leaving those at the bottom of the economic ladder unable to make the switch to a low tech, low throughput society because of initial costs. In a low throughput society costs remain low allowing everyone to participate. Education at an early age provides the means for this paradigm switch. Unfortunately many who are doing the teaching are stuck in the high throughput paradigm and perpetuate the accepted norm. The low throughput technology needed is usually simple to build and do not require specialist enabling students to build the systems for the schools while at the same time learning about thermodynamics, kinetic and potential energy, and throughput at the same time developing skills.