@Jewpacabra ironically, morlockP was talking about the energy density of dry wood, and someone chimed in that their professor had done calucations on nuclear weapons in ww2, then afterwards did some stuff on forest fires, and was confused, asked firefighters and they said "mm yeah seems right"

So, "direct energy weapon" isn't actually unrealistic; it's just these people don't understand that's why do you management of forests and such.