Before the energy is made available for human use it is generally absorbed and transformed into some intermediate form, such as chemical potential energy, or it may go through several transformations.
Whenever energy is transformed from one form to another form, some of the energy is lost as heat (or electromagnetic radiation). No energy conversion process can be 100% efficient.
The diagrams below show some of examples of the energy transformation process.
Example 1
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| Transparency Master 1 | Transparency Master 2 |
| Transparency Master 3 | Transparency Master 4 |
 The total amount of sunlight energy absorbed is exactly equal to the amount of heat (as long wavelength electromagnetic radiation) that is eventually radiated into space. |
Example 2
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| Transparency Master 1 | Transparency Master 2 |
| Transparency Master 3 | Transparency Master 4 |
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The total amount of sunlight energy absorbed is exactly equal to the amount of heat (as long wavelength electromagnetic radiation) that is eventually radiated into space. |
