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Like fossil fuels come from organic matter that grew because of the sun. Is there any form of energy on that cannot be traced back to the sun in some way?

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[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Geothermal comes from the heat in the core, produced by gravity crushing the particles together during the Earth's formation.

Nuclear energy comes from the fission and fusion of particles here on earth.

Tidal energy comes from the gravitational pull of the moon.

Hydro comes from the movement of water (though you could trace this back to the sun causing the water cycle).

[–] fishos@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Earth wouldn't coalesce without the sun. Thus no geothermal.

Nuclear materials were formed in supernovas. Can't have that without a star.

Moons tides wouldn't exist if Earth didn't have an orbit of its own. Again, sun needed.

Hydro you already figured out.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I guess it depends on how far back you want to go. The sun wouldn't exist without gravity.

[–] fishos@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Well, seeing as how the question is directly asking "is there any energy you can't eventually trace back to the sun", you shouldn't ever stop going back unless you can reach a definitively non sun answer

(Gravity arguably works - probably the nuclear attraction force as well, electromagnetic I believe)

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, although I'm not sure if I'd consider the four fundamental forces as "energy", exactly.

When most people ask the question, they mean in the context of the current environment, where the Earth, moon, etc. are already formed.