Fossil Fuels: Energy of the Industrial Age

Flashcards about Fossil Fuels: Energy of the Industrial Age

Fossil Fuels

Energy sources formed from living organisms from earlier geologic eras.

Hydrocarbons

Strands of hydrogen and carbon molecules derived from ancient, solar energy-capturing photosynthesis.

Oil

The liquid fossil fuel.

Natural Gas

A gaseous fossil fuel that is primarily methane.

Coal

A solid carbon-based fossil fuel.

Reserves

Known resources of a fossil fuel that can be economically accessed with current technology.

Conventional Reserves

Easily obtained deposits of fossil fuels.

Unconventional Reserves

Difficult-to-extract deposits.

Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking)

A method of oil extraction that has permitted the increased extraction of less-polluting fuels from unconventional reserves, but it has environmental drawbacks of its own.

Stranded Asset

An investment that becomes obsolete and does not yield a profit.

Social Cost of Carbon

An economic measure used to estimate damage to property, agriculture, and human health from fossil fuel use, is estimated to be at least $51 per ton of greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon Tax

Taxes carbon emissions from homes, vehicles, businesses, and industry.

Cap-and-Trade Program

A government sets an overall maximum allowable emissions standard (cap), then allots pollution allowances to companies; an open market enables pollution allowances to be bought, sold, traded, or saved for the future.