The Importance of Energy

The Importance of Energy That Everyone Uses

SC300: Big Ideas in Science

Kaplan University

The Importance of Energy

Energy is one of the most important parts of our world. Energy causes things to happen around us. Energy can be defined as the ability to make something happen is the power to change things and it is the ability to do work. Any time a force is applied on something it has to move that means something happened and that something is a form of energy. Anything and everything that moves is some type of energy that is used in life. Energy can be found in a number of different forms. It can be chemical energy, electrical energy, heat also known as thermal energy, light which is radiant energy, mechanical energy, and nuclear energy. Energy is used to light our homes and our city streets. Energy powers machinery in factories, our vehicles, trains, planes, tractors on a farm and rockets. Energy warms our homes, cooks our food, plays our music, and provides us pictures on the television. Energy from the sun gives us light during the day. It dries our clothes when hanging outside on a clothes line. It helps plants grow. Energy stored in plants is eaten by animals, giving them energy. And predator animals eat their prey, which gives the predator animal energy. Everything we do is connected to energy in one way or another (Types of Energy, n.d.).

There are many different types of energy that is used in every living organism’s lives. The form of energy that is used by people the most is electricity, biomass energy that is energy that is produced in factories, geothermal energy, fossil fuels, coal, oil, and natural gas. Hydro power and ocean energy, nuclear energy, solar energy, wind energy and transportation energy are also used by people. Systems convert energy at numerous rates of efficiency. There are many engineers and physicists that are constantly working on improving and developing systems that have higher energy conversion efficiency....