what does energy mean to you?

What is energy? Where does energy come from? What does energy mean to you?

Stumped? Don't worry, you've come to the right place for a simple explanation. First, it helps to understand the concept of work. Imagine a box that you've pushed from your bed to the closet door. To push the box (or change its movement), a constant force is applied. The physical length between your bed and the closet door is the displacement. When you find the product of force and displacement, work is defined.

Now we'll take a look at power, which can be understood as the rate at which energy is converted or the rate of doing work. Defining power gives you the degree of speed per unit of energy.

In physics, I memorized the definition of energy -- the ability or potential to perform work or cause changes. Energy is the capacity for doing work. But what does that mean? Energy is essential to do work and it's useful to understand the amount of energy required to do work.

Increase your energy consciousness.

Did you know that about 20% of your home energy budget is consumed by lighting? ENERGY STAR explains the differences here. Basically, incandescent bulbs require more power to output 800 Lumens than the CFL alternative and more power means more energy!      

  

due to severe weather...

JMU will be closed on Monday, October 29, 2012!! After getting a text message about classes being cancelled, two thoughts came to mind: 1. YAYY! I get to sleep in and work leisurely from home and 2. Oh man, I miss pulling all those times I stayed up all night to finish an assignment only to find out that class was cancelled.

So... Hurricane Sandy! What have you done to prepare yourself for the upcoming crazy weather? The winds are expected to reach 60 MPH!! Don't leave your house and plan for widespread power and communication outages. Awesome!

Maybe being trapped in my apartment will motivate me to read a book or go to the gym... okay, no I'll probably sleep until Wednesday.

Here's a face to the name, andy anchovy haha

hi, bloggers!

It's been an idea of mine to start a blog for a while now... and here it goes! Since I graduated from college earlier this year, I'd like to blog my post-grad life. I graduated from James Madison University with a bachelor's degree in Integrated Science and Technology (ISAT). 

In January, I started a project with a group of students to create the first student-derived and student-taught course at JMU titled, "The Energy Challenge." The goal of this course is to teach students about energy and how it's applied in our daily lives. I know that sounds boring, but this class is different and awesome! Instead of impossible math problems and headaches, we designed The Energy Challenge to be interactive because a group of students will be teaching the hands-on material. Here's another twist: we want to show kids how to change their energy consumption habits. 

How do I go green? It may seem expensive or out-of-reach for students to go green, but there a ton of things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint. For example, changing from incandescent to CFL or LED bulbs, adjusting the performance settings on your computer, and simply unplugging any unused appliances in your room or house. Ultimately, it's important for everyone to be energy conscious.

Here are some great and easy ways to cut your energy use, thanks National Geographic!