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[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 18 points 5 days ago

All energy comes from the sun except for geothermal which comes from the Earth's rotational momentum which might as well be the sun because it wouldn't rotate without something to orbit around.

[-] cecilkorik@piefed.ca 35 points 5 days ago

Technically nuclear came from a different star. The sun won't create those kinds of heavier elements until it burns through its hydrogen and helium fuel to start fusing its way up to lead, and I don't think it's massive enough to actually reach the kind of supernova collapse required to smash lesser elements together into heavier elements than that in any significant amount. So technically, fission is the only the form of energy that isn't based on solar. It's just the still-cooling-embers leftover from someone else's dying star, a whole bunch of billions of years ago. I guess you could say the sun's gravity at least attracted it all into this general vicinity though, at least until the Earth's own gravity started pulling its own weight.

All accessible energy originates from the low entropy state during the big bang.

[-] cecilkorik@piefed.ca 1 points 4 days ago

Well, it's like I told my old friend Einstein, everything's relative!

[-] gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org 1 points 5 days ago

well actually there's renewable energy on the cosmological scale (look up E. Harris - Mining Energy In An Expanding Universe), at least theoretically. nobody's ever practically utilized it (afaik).

[-] gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

btw geothermal does not come from the earth's rotation. it mostly comes from nuclear decay of heavy isotopes in the earth's interior and the enormous heat capacity of the earth's interior, which means it's still warm from the friction heat from when the planet first formed. in other words it's there since the Earth formed, independent of the sun.

also there's another (practically accessible) form of energy that comes neither from geothermal nor from the sun: you can pull energy out of the tidal movement that comes from the moon's changing gravity field as it orbits around our planet. i think that one's not really being used though because the only way to really utilize it is to build dams across havens and important shipping routes and that interferes with trade, which is considered the more economically valuable activity from the two.

[-] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

Tidal energy is being used in many countries. You don't have to block the canals. You can build structures in coastlines, or just put underground generators that run automatically without any dams because the water moves without the dams as well

except for geothermal which comes from the Earth’s rotational momentum

emm that is not the source of geothermal energy..

[-] TehWorld@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

TIL - according to one source 80% of the geothermal energy comes from radiation and the remaining 20% is from the sun.

[-] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

Didn't the molten core also originate in some way from the sun?

[-] Rakonat@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

Yes but no. The sun didn't form the Earth. The Earth and the sun both formed from a primordial star. You don't hear much talk about the star that actually birthed us, because theres very little we can say for certain about it. We can't even say for certain if Sol (the sun) is a second or third generation star because we only have vague notions about if the star that produced all the elements that aren't hydrogen in the solar system was long lived or went nova in under a billion years.

[-] betanumerus@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 days ago

The molten core is hot because a whole lot of rocks crashed into each other. Also, nuclear decay.

[-] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Well... those are remnants of a supernova aren't they? So the velocities to have meaningful impacts came from a sun?

Definitely not what I was thinking or trying to say though, and not our sun, but kinda still all the energy comes from at least, a sun.

[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 3 points 5 days ago
[-] Felis_Catus_Domesticus@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

geothermal which comes from the Earth’s rotational momentum

umm.. that is not the source of geothermal energy..

[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 1 points 5 days ago

Yes it is, and the earth is gradually slowing down because of it.

this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2026
1194 points (97.6% liked)

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