Carriers are mediums through which exergy and/or carbon flow through the system. For example, wind, electricity and gasoline are carriers of exergy, while only gasoline is a carrier of carbon. The flow of exergy and carbon through carriers is measured in units of watts (joules/second) and grams/second, respectively. Each carrier entry in the database contains relevant metadata such as a detailed description of its role in the global exergy system, as well as references to the published source of the data.
Position: represents the general placement of the carrier in the human energy system. Primary carriers represent sources of exergy. Intermediate carriers have been transformed from primary carriers but generally do not have direct human applications. Final carriers are used in end-use transformation to perform useful services.
| Name | Description | Position | |
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Atmosphere | This is the catch-all for carbon emissions as well as the carrier to carbon uptake ... | primary |
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Chemicals | Needs work. The connection to material disposal appears to be backwards. | intermediate |
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Clouds | We consider clouds a carrier, not an accumulation, given the short residence time o... | primary |
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Coastal Waves | primary | |
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Cold Air | Used in refrigeration | final |
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Cool Air | Mostly air conditioning | final |
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Deep Ocean Water | Represents the influxes and outfluxes of the deep ocean, which is a large reservoir... | primary |
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Ducted Air | Exergy is invested into moving air in HVAC systems | final |
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Electricity | intermediate | |
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Ethanol | intermediate | |
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Extracted Natural Gas | Natural gas as it comes out of the ground. May contain large quantities of CO2, N2... | primary |
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Extracted Petroleum | Commodity pipeline quality crude oil | primary |
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Fresh Water | Needs work. This appears to be only the potential part of fresh water exergy (not i... | primary |
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Gasoline, Diesel, Kerosine | Needs work. Should be split into three parts: gasoline, diesel, kerosine. This mea... | intermediate |
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Geothermal Heat | primary | |
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Heat (Cooking) | Thermal energy transfer used for food cooking | final |
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Hot Water | Hot water for residential, commercial and industrial use | final |
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Human and Animal Waste | final | |
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Liquified Natural Gas | Liquefied Natural Gas. This is assumed to be pipeline quality. | intermediate |
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Lumber | Forest products that have been milled to the specifications of the wood products co... | intermediate |
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Mechanical Work (Appliances) | This is the mechancial work done by motors in appliances. Most of it gets dissipat... | final |
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Mechanical Work (Human) | The work we do with our muscles | final |
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Mechanical Work (Vehicles) | All the work done on road, rail, ship and aircraft | final |
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Metals | intermediate | |
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Methane Hydrates | Methane hydrates/clathrates in the deep ocean | primary |
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Mid-Ocean Waves | primary | |
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Mined Carbonates | This is the mineral commodity, within the sphere of human influence (as opposed to ... | primary |
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Mined Coal | primary | |
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Mined Metal Ore | Commodity metal ores that have been mined | primary |
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Mined Uranium Ore | primary | |
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Municipal Solid Waste | final | |
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Naptha | intermediate | |
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Nuclear Waste | final | |
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Ocean Tides | Ocean tides | primary |
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Paper Products | Products of the Pulp and Paper Industry | final |
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Pipeline Natural Gas | This is the commodity natural gas.. pipeline quality stuff | intermediate |
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Plant Matter | primary | |
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Plastics | final | |
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Processed Food | final | |
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Propane | Light liquid hydrocarbons really amounts to LPG. Sometimes it's true LPG (a pressu... | intermediate |
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Pumped Fluids | Work done on the fluids in pipelines as the fluid is pumped from place to place | final |
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Pumped Water | Potential energy in water in pumped hydro reservoirs and some naturally ocurring wa... | intermediate |
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Radiation to Space | Radiation from the surface to cold space. | primary |
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Raw Food | Farm products before they are packaged and sold. A small fraction of this goes str... | final |
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Rivers | Rivers serve as an important conduit for carbon from the lithosphere to the hydrops... | primary |
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Soil | Needs work. Currently there are no sources for soil | primary |
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Solid Biofuel | Includes wood gathered for energy purposes, as well as crops devoted to fuel or the... | intermediate |
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Solid Earth Tides | Exergy is processed (and destroyed) as the earth deforms due to celestial gravitati... | primary |
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Steam | Steam is used as an exergy carrier in some industrial, commercial and residential a... | intermediate |
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Subsurface CO2 | CO2 in the subsurface | primary |
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Subsurface Natural Gas | Natural gas as it exists in the subsurface, before it has been extracted | primary |
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Subsurface Petroleum | Oil in the subsurface, before it has been extracted | primary |
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Sunlight | primary | |
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Surface Ocean Water | Represents the influx and outflux of the surface ocean, which is a reservoir of exe... | primary |
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Textiles | final | |
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Unmined Carbonates | This includes all carbonate rocks as they exist in the lithosphere | primary |
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Unmined Coal | This is coal as it exists in the lithosphere | primary |
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Unmined Metal Ore | Metal ores as they exist in the lithosphere before they have been mined | primary |
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Unmined Uranium Ore | Uranium as it exists in the lithosphere | primary |
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Uranium 235 | Fissile nuclides are fuel for lots of reactors | primary |
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Uranium 238 | Fissionable nuclides are fuel in some reacotrs. | primary |
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Visible Light | Needs work. This is the light that comes from lighting. | final |
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Warm Air | Energy transfer for space heating | final |
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Warm Water | Energy transfer for residential, commercial and industrial warm water for process a... | final |
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Wind | primary |