This reminds me of a conversation I heard once in college that stuck with me.

  A: I believe that when you die, your energy goes back out into the world, and becomes a part of everything.
  P: Yeah, that's why you get cold.  Entropy.

The problem is, when non-geeks talk about energy, they almost never really mean energy. Which is a shame, because real energy is a lot cooler and more magical than the ghosty chi-stuff they're talking about.