Energy and motion, resource and value, geography and space–time?

The paper by Ptak et al. makes a compelling call to position energy geographies at the centre of human geography. For this aspiration to materialise, more clarity may be needed on what is meant by energy as an analytical concept rather than an empirical object of inquiry, and how energy differs from resources. In this commentary, I offer one possible articulation of energy engaging with earth's thermodynamic potential to generate motion, in contrast to resource, which frames earth as free gifts of value to be controlled and extracted. Such a distinction may open conversations about energy's relation with not just space, but also time. Further dialogue on the relationship between energy and resources may help clarify how energy geographies could offer something novel and generative in the discipline of human geography.