Energy flow diagram

By Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., 2020-06-03 , Reading time: Less than 1 minute

This diagram roughly shows the origin of energy we can use to help us do stuff.

Most items are individually clickable to give you more info (mostly Wikipedia links).

UPDATE: This was remixed by @OperadorNuclear really well.

graph TD

    big["Big bang"] --> Protons[(Protons)] --> Stars[("Ancient stars
(nuclear fusion)")] click Stars "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion" click big "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang" Stars --> stellar["Stellar
nucleosynthesis"] click stellar "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis" stellar --> iron[(Elements lighter
than Iron)] iron --> fusion(["Nuclear fusion
on Earth (TBD)"]) -.-> Electricity((Energy)) click fusion "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power" style fusion stroke:#f66,stroke-dasharray: 5, 5 supernova --> cooling["Residual cooling"] --> geo supernova --> Uranium Stars --> supernova["Supernova
nucleosynthesis"] click supernova "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_nucleosynthesis" Stars --> ssys[(Solar system
dynamics)] ssys --> Tidal([Tidal]) --> Electricity click Tidal "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_power" click ssys "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the_Solar_System" Protons --> Sun[("Our Sun
(nuclear fusion)")]--> srad["Solar radiation"] click Protons "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton" click Sun "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun" click srad "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight" srad --> solar(["Solar PV"]) click solar "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_system" srad --> uneven["Uneven heating"] --> pressure["Pressure gradients"] --> Wind([Wind]) click pressure "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_gradient" solar --> Electricity Wind --> Electricity click Wind "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind" fission --> fp[(Fission products)] click fission "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission" click fp "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission_product" fission --> Electricity srad --> Evaporation --> Rain[(Rain)] --> hydro([Hydropower]) --> Electricity click hydro "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydropower" click Rain "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain" click Evaporation "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporation" srad --> Photosynthesis --> Plants[(Organic matter)] Plants --> Biofuel[(Biofuel)] --> Combustion --> Electricity Plants --> Decay --> Fossil[("Fossil fuel
(oil, coal, gas)")] --> Combustion click Photosynthesis "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis" click Decay "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel#Origin" click Fossil "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel" click Biofuel "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel" click Combustion "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion" click Plants "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_matter" iron --> |K-40| decayheat Uranium --> decayheat["Radioactive decay heat"] decayheat --> geo([Geothermal]) click decayheat "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_internal_heat_budget#Radiogenic_heat" geo --> Electricity click geo "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_energy" Uranium[("Uranium &
Thorium")] --> fission(["Nuclear fission"]) "" Electricity -->quality[("Improved quality of life")] click Electricity "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy" click quality "https://www.researchgate.net/figure/HDI-vs-electricity-consumption-2-40-46_fig4_315794998" Combustion --> airp[(Air pollution)] click airp "http://www9.who.int/airpollution/en/" Combustion --> co2[("CO₂ emissions")] co2 --> warming[(Climate change)] airp --> lung[(Lung diseases)] click co2 "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Anthropogenic_greenhouse_gases" click lung "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_disease" click warming "https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/"

You can download this as a jpg here.