The basic energy molecule for life is ATP, adenosine triphosphate. It fuels all those cellular reactions that life needs. To produce one mol of ATP requires 70 kilojoules. That’s about 16 calories for reference. One kilojoule is near the maximum amount of solar radiation received by a square meter on Earth every second. When animals . . . → Read More: Why Glycolysis Sucks! Formate 4-Evah!