# Is there any kind of energy that doesn’t require other energy to produce?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-kind-of-energy-that-doesn-t-require-other-energy-to-produce/978515>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 20, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-kind-of-energy-that-doesn-t-require-other-energy-to-produce/978515 "2023-01-20T17:59:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-kind-of-energy-that-doesn-t-require-other-energy-to-produce/978515/21 "2023-01-21T20:36:19Z")

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> [@FlikTheBlue](#):
>
> Nuclear is also deferred solar energy, just from a different sun 😜.

Alright Carl, we all know the cosmos is within us and we are a way for the universe to know itself. No need to keep going on about it.

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**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-kind-of-energy-that-doesn-t-require-other-energy-to-produce/978515/22 "2023-01-21T23:40:17Z")

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> [@FlikTheBlue](#):
>
> Nuclear is also deferred solar energy, just from a different sun

But isn’t solar deferred nuclear?

So nuclear wins!

Also as mentioned above, tidal which is deferred kinetic.

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**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2023, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-kind-of-energy-that-doesn-t-require-other-energy-to-produce/978515/23 "2023-01-22T01:14:25Z")

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Sorry I misread, please delete

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**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2023, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-kind-of-energy-that-doesn-t-require-other-energy-to-produce/978515/24 "2023-01-22T01:32:10Z")

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If you really want to make something from scratch, then you really need to go back to the Big Bang. Same holds for energy useable by humans:

So, assuming what you mean by “energy” is the term “useful work” in physics, the earliest “useful work” exploited by humans (that needed minimal previous work) were :

1. Animals / Beasts of Burden
2. Other Humans
3. Windmills
4. Water mills
5. Steam Engines …/

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