Talk:Energy budget

Other meaning

Isn't an enery budget also the balance between a country's production, consumption, import, and export of energy products like oil and coal? --Kevlar (talk • contribs) 18:43, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes and it also refers to the net effect of all the solar energy arriving at Earth. If we

1. direct more radiation onto the earth, or
2. capture more of what is normally reflected and convert it into work (and eventually heat), or
3. produce additional heat from tapping other sources of stored energy such as fission or especially fusion power;

the average temperature must rise. This is a much larger and more important subject than just fish metabolism. We could literally cook ourselves if we continue to expend more energy than we can dump into space. Cutelyaware (talk) 08:22, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

The concept of energy flowing into, out of, or within a system is covered under the article Thermodynamic system. I have only heard this term energy budget in reference to the concept in biology. Every living organism must take in enough calories to sustain itself, and so behavior in animals and growth patterns in plants can always be analyzed in terms of whether the cost in expenditure of energy is worth the intake of nourishment. If there are sources that use energy budget regarding a country or other system, please do update the article with a description of usage and a citation.--Brambleshire (talk) 14:20, 4 February 2011 (UTC)