Oil is the most widely used fossil fuel. Crude oil consists of many different organic compounds which are transformed to products in a refining process. It is applied in cars, jets, roads and roofs and many other. Oil cannot be found everywhere on earth and consequentially, there have been wars on oil supplies.
A well-known example is the Gulf War of Natural gas is a gaseous fossil fuel that is versatile, abundant and relatively clean compared to coal and oil. Like oil, it is formed from the remains of marine microorganisms. It is a relatively new type of energy source.
Until , more coal was used than natural gas. Natural gas has now overtaken coal in developed countries. However, people are afraid that like oil, natural gas supplies will run out. Some scientists have even predicted this might happen by the middle or end of the 21st century. Natural gas mainly consists of methane CH 4. It is highly compressed in small volumes at large depths in the earth. Like oil, it is brought to the surface by drilling. Natural gas reserves are more evenly distributed around the globe than oil supplies.
Figure 2. Source: Energy Information Administration. Energy gained from burning fossil fuels is converted to electricity and heat in commercial power plants. When fossil fuels are burned carbon and hydrogen react with oxygen in air to carbon dioxide CO 2 and water H 2 O.
During this reaction heat is released which further amplifies the reaction. Electricity is generated by transforming mechanical energy heat to electrical energy in a turbine or generator. Power plants are very expensive to build, but once they are present efficiency in converting fuel to energy is very high.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that million tons of coal ash are generated each year in the United States. Natural gas is burned to generate an increasing share of U. It is most commonly used to produce heat or electricity for buildings or industrial processes. Accessing natural gas requires drilling a well. In the United States , natural gas is found in shale and other sedimentary rock formations and is extracted through a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Fracking requires forcing water, chemicals, and sand down a well at high pressure, which cracks the rock and releases the natural gas.
This process can be extremely resource-intensive, requiring between 1. Fracking can also pollute local waterways, create contaminated wastewater, and cause earthquakes.
While generating electricity from natural gas emits less carbon dioxide and other air pollutants than generating electricity from coal, leaks from natural gas plants, wells, and pipelines also emit methane—the main component of natural gas—into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, although it remains in the atmosphere for less time.
Through leakage and direct emissions from combustion, natural gas was responsible for 36 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in Natural gas consumption has been steadily increasing in the United States and is expected to continue to grow into the future as natural gas replaces coal.
Under the assumption that natural gas prices will remain low, natural gas is projected to meet an increasing share of U. In particular, its use is likely to increase in the industrial sector, where it is used as a feedstock in chemical processes and for industrial heat and power.
Energy: Fracking or hydraulic fracturing. Geoenergy Programme: Carbon Capture and Storage. Fossil fuels Fossil fuels. Page Content. How does each form? Coal Hundreds of millions of years ago, even before the dinosaurs, there were huge plants and ferns that lived in swamp forests. Energy Information Administration Oil and Gas The oil and gas we use today was formed by the decay of microscopic plants and animals that lived in the ocean millions of years ago.
Energy Information Administration Peat Peat is a very young form of coal, if left for a long period of time peat will eventually form coal. How do we use fossil fuels? Fossil fuels and Ireland Ireland has a history of coal mining in areas of Leinster including Kilkenny, Carlow and Laois. Related processes There are several steps an energy source must go through before it becomes useful Exploration First the energy source must be found, geologists are constantly studying areas and their rocks to determine if deposits or wells are likely to occur.
Extraction Once a source is located it then needs to be removed from the Earth. Processing Processing can take the form of crushing, grinding and milling. Refining The oil that is pumped from the earth is extracted in the form of crude oil.
Tile 1 Description. Tile 2 Description. Tile 3 Description. Tile 4 Description. Tile 5 Description. Tile 6 Description. Tile 7 Description. Tile 8 Description. Tile 9 Description. Oil is originally found as a solid material between layers of sedimentary rock, like shale.
This material is heated in order to produce the thick oil that can be used to make gasoline. Natural gas is usually found in pockets above oil deposits. Natural gas is primarily made up of methane. According to the National Academies of Sciences, 81 percent of the total energy used in the United States comes from coal, oil, and natural gas.
This is the energy that is used to heat and provide electricity to homes and businesses and to run cars and factories. Unfortunately, fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource and waiting millions of years for new coal, oil, and natural gas deposits to form is not a realistic solution. Fossil fuels are also responsible for almost three-fourths of the emissions from human activities in the last 20 years. Now, scientists and engineers have been looking for ways to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and to make burning these fuels cleaner and healthier for the environment.
Scientists across the country and around the world are trying to find solutions to fossil fuel problems so that there is enough fuel and a healthy environment to sustain human life and activities in the future. The United States Department of Energy is working on technologies to make commercially available natural-gas-powered vehicles.
They are also trying to make coal burning and oil drilling cleaner. Researchers at Stanford University in California have been using greener technologies to figure out a way to burn fossil fuels while lessening their impact on the environment. One solution is to use more natural gas, which emits 50 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than coal does.
The Stanford team is also trying to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it underground—a process called carbon capture and sequestration.
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