Energy Consumption vs. Energy Requirement
摘要
Energy is necessary for any phenomenon to occur or any process to proceed. Nevertheless, energy is never consumed; instead, it is conserved. What is consumed is available energy, or exergy, accompanied by an increase in entropy. Obviously, the terminology, “energy consumption” is indeed a misnomer although it is ubiquitous in the technical literature, in the popular press, and also often uttered in the classroom and in the instruction of engineering courses. It is highly desirable that “energy consumption” be replaced by “energy requirement,” “energy need,” “energy usage,” or other similar terms.