Why Energy?

Spoiler alert: this blog will focus principally on energy issues. For a quick summary of my fascination with energy, let's turn to our oft-utilized and underrated friend, Wikipedia:

Energetics is the scientific study of energy under transformation. Because energy flows at all scales, from the quantum level, to the biosphere and cosmos, energetics is therefore a very broad discipline, encompassing for example thermodynamics, chemistry, biological energetics, biochemistry and ecological energetics.

Energy is the lifeblood of quite literally everything. There is a reason Einstein's E = mc^2 is the most famous equation in all of academia. Vaclav Smil called energy "the only universal currency." And it is. When we consider energy, we can consider the process of nuclear fusion in our sun; the metabolic transformation of glycogen into glucose; the combustion of coal and oil for the purposes of generating electricity; and innumerable other examples of energetic phenomena. It is quite literally impossible, I believe, to underestimate the role of energy in our lives, in our studies, and in our universe.

This blog will tend more towards issues of geopolitical energy issues - that is, the many and complex processes humans use to create, transport and extract useful energy. Climate change, clean tech and the ensuing political battles over US and global energy policy will inevitably arise. But I hope regular readers of my blog take my posts as a serialized proposition for a more energetically and thermodynamically aware global academy. The perception of the global economy, I believe, would be more accurate and conceptually useful if we gave more consideration to the energy flows and fluxes that govern our lives. Despite apparent abundance, we live in an increasingly resource-constrained world. It would do well, I suggest, for us to recognize that.

For the record, I welcome comments, emails and follows on my other sites. Democratized discussion is the name of the game.

See you on the blogosphere...