Ok deciding if I go with ice or air.

Anyway I got some questions

Does energy absorption of like sources scale to the intensity? Like say you're fire aligned could you leech off the heat of a volcano or something and charge it up quickly or would making dozens of bonfires and draining them suffice?

If the former is true, does this mean natural disasters/inclement weather serve as a boon of sorts since you can drain them without too much worry?
  
Is there some sort of punishment for like excessive draining of things?