Fossil fuels

Coal

• Steam engines, cooking, industry

• Pollution, hazardous, hard to operate

Oil

Alternative to coal. Refinement of oil into fuel. Main energy source for the world

• More convenient and burned cleaner

• Combustion engine lighter than steam engine

Natural gas

Drilling oil. Consists of methane (CO2 and H20 when burned.

• More convenient, burned cleaner, inexpensive

• Pipelines able to be transported instead of atmospheric

• 21% of world energy demand

Electrical power

amount of work done by an electric current over time

• Watt: 1J per second

• kWh: 3.6 x 10^6J of energy

Energy carrier

 electricity itself that transfers energy from primary energy source to point of use

Generator

Converts mechanical energy into electrical energy

Electrical generator

coil of wire that rotates in a magnetic field

Energy lost by conversion from primary source to electricity

• 33% efficient

  • Energy lost as heat by wire resistance

Turbogenerator

 turbine and generator

• Coal/oil/nuclear produce steam which drives turbine

Brownout

result from deficiency of available power. Causes a reduction in voltage

Blackout

total loss of power. Occur during peak demand.

Demand rising faster than supply

• Reserve capacity has declined to 15%

• Summer heat waves are the greatest cause of sudden increased demand

• Utilities are being pushed to the edge of their ability to provide electricity on demand

Self-healing electrical grid

Can prevent major blackouts

• monitors problems

• reacts to trouble

• isolates troubled areas to prevent cascading failures

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security rates this as one of its highest priorities

Baseload

constant supply of power provided by large coal-burning/nuclear power plants

Heat energy

Produced by boiling water to drive turbines. Cannot be recycled into turbine.

• Condenser turns steam into water for reuse

  • Heat energy lost to atmosphere

• Alternative to cooling tower

  • Waste heat transfer to river/ocean

    • Kill planktonic organisms

Thermal pollution

waste heat discharged into natural water

Crude oil

Extracted from deep wells on land/seafloor. Formed millions of years ago

• Anaerobic conditions slow decomposition

• Pressure/heat convert vegetation to fossil fuel

Composed of 

• Nitrogen compounds

• Oxygen compounds

• Sulfur compounds (e.g. toxic Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S))

• Heavy metal contaminants (Fe, Ni, Cu, Cr, V, etc.)

• Hydrocarbons (the vast majority):

Oil production

withdrawal of oil/gas from field. Does not proceed at a steady rate.

• Oil trapped in pore spaces of sedimentary rock

Primary recovery

25% of oil can be removed using regular conventional pumping

Secondary recovery

remove up to 50% of oil by injecting steam/brine into wells.

Enhanced recovery

increases yield from well by injecting CO2 to break up oil

Impact of higher oil prices

• Increased domestic production

  •  the Alaskan pipeline, re-opening old fields

• Increased fuel efficiency standards

  • lowered speed limits (to 55 mph)

• Promoted appliance and building efficiencies

• Developed alternative energy sources

• Created a strategic oil reserve in Louisiana

  • Store 702 million barrels of oil (33 days of oil at 21 million barrels/day use)

Oil limitations

US oil production decreasing. Offshore and foreign oil used.

• Alaskan oil field or isolated pockets

• Offshore oil

  • 30% of domestic production

  • Drilling for Gulf oil reserves with high prices

World use of oil: 92mil barrels/day

Hubbart’s peak

oil production follow bell-shape curve

• Peak between 1965 - 1970

  • Available oil decline

  • Production decline

• Decrease supply and demand

  • USA import from other countries

Fracking

Injecting a fluid mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into shale

Light crude oil

low paraffin wax content

Heavy crude oil

higher density, high paraffin wax content, flow rate is slow

Sweet crude oil

low sulfur content

Estimated reserves

random guess on where and how much oil exists. drilling is required for accurate guess

Proved reserves

an accurate estimate of how much oil can be economically obtained from a field

• 1 barrel = 42 gallons

• P05 = 5% probability the field contains given number of oil barrels

1970 Oil crisis

•The U.S. and other industrialized countries increased their dependence on imported oil

•The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

•Mostly Arab countries

•Restrained production and initiated an embargo to increase prices

•Resulted in shortages, panic, and long lines at gas stations

•The U.S. willingly paid four times the previous price

•Devastating results: inflation, unemployment, and recessions

Response to high oil prices

• Increased domestic production

  •  the Alaskan pipeline, re-opening old fields

• Increased fuel efficiency standards

  • lowered speed limits (to 55 mph)

• Promoted appliance and building efficiencies

• Developed alternative energy sources

• Created a strategic oil reserve in Louisiana

  • Store 702 million barrels of oil (33 days of oil at 21 million barrels/day use

US became less reliant on oil imports

Natural gas

Industry, residential, electrical power. Cost fluctuates with supply/demand.

• New deposits/drilling: supply 50 years

• Piped or liquified (LNG)

Impacts of coal

•One of the biggest environmental problems from coal mining results from the release of sulfuric acid from underground

    mines.

•The acid poisons thousands of miles of streams in the eastern United States

•Underground mines cause land subsidence, toxic metals and sulfuric acid runoff, and fires

•Centralia, Pennsylvania’s fire started 40 years ago

•It could burn another 100 years

•The federal government bought the town

•Worldwide coal fires release as much carbon dioxide as all cars and trucks in the U.S.

Strip mining

•Dynamite breaks overlying areas

•Giant power shovels remove overlying rocks and coal

•Deforestation and burying streams destroy ecosystems

•Federal regulations require reclamation (grading, replanting)

•It takes decades for recovery at the most basic level

•Erosion, acid leaching, and mine wastes affect surface and ground water

Oil shale

a fine sedimentary rock containing kerogen

Developing oil shale and sand will occur with high oil prices

Kerogen

a solid, waxlike hydrocarbon

•One ton of shale produces ½ barrel of oil

•Mining, transportation, and waste disposal are cost prohibitive

•Deposits contain 800 BBs of oil

Oil sand

a sedimentary material containing bitumen

Bitumen

a hydrocarbon that can be refined like oil

Alberta, Canada has the largest deposits (152 BBs)

The cost is competitive with oil

U.S. imports = 10% of our imported oil

Mining oil sand causes significant environmental damage

82,000 acres of boreal forest and wetlands have already been heavily disturbed in Canada

Developing oil shale and sand will occur with high oil prices