Fossil Fuels and Energy Transition

Focus on the historical context of fossil fuel usage and the role of government in energy transitions.

Main Source of Energy:
- Development of early civilizations relied heavily on wood as a fuel source.
- Extensive deforestation occurred as people cleared large areas for fuel for homes, businesses, and factories.
Government Awareness:
- The English government recognized the depletion of forests and calculated potential future shortages.
- Discovery of coal led to its use as an alternative energy source, recognized to be more powerful and efficient than wood.
- Coal, once considered an alternative energy source, is now often a fallback energy source.

Subsidies for Alternative Energy:
- Modern examples include government payments assisting individuals and cities to adopt solar energy (e.g., solar panels/subsidized solar fields).
- Historical parallels with coal: England's payments to support coal mining reflected similar governmental practices to incentivize coal energy adoption.
Public Goods and Services:
- Definition: Items that cannot be profitably produced or excluded for non-paying customers.
- Government finances roads and energy infrastructure through taxation, where benefits are shared regardless of individual contribution.

Governments incentivized coal use to reduce land damage from wood harvesting.
Taxes or bans on wood usage established to promote coal, alongside subsidies for coal production.

Fossil Fuels Composition:
- Include coal, oil, and natural gas, comprising approximately 80% of global energy use.
Emissions Concerns:
- Coal burning leads to environmental pollution including emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur, mercury, and lead, which are harmful to health and ecosystems.
- Addressing emissions through clean coal technology:
- The objective is to filter out toxins from coal before combustion.
- While this improves emissions from burning coal, it still requires management of waste produced from filtration processes.
- This waste must be stored securely to prevent further environmental impact.

Definition:
- A mining process involving the removal of mountaintops to access coal reserves beneath.
Process Steps:
- Clear the top of the mountain and dispose of the overburden (unwanted materials) into nearby valleys, often impacting water supplies and habitats.
Environmental Consequences:
- Leads to habitat destruction, pollution, erosion of soil, and contamination of water supplies.
- Long-term environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity in affected areas, particularly in Appalachia where deciduous forests are prevalent.
Cultural Impact:
- Short-term economic benefits in job creation but lead to long-term loss of jobs once mines are exhausted and significant cultural erosion in impacted communities.

Global Coal Usage Trends:
- China accounts for over 55% of global coal consumption, with extensive mining operations fueled by demand for various industries.
Shifts in Energy Policies:
- Many countries, including the U.S., are transitioning from coal to natural gas for cleaner energy production, which impacts climate change.
Germany's Energy Dilemma:
- In response to political pressures (Russia's invasion of Ukraine), Germany moved away from natural gas dependency but reverted to coal due to a lack of suitable alternatives.

Coal exploitation ties into broader geopolitical tensions, as observed in conflicts like the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Countries with rich energy resources face pressures that can lead to environmental exploitation alongside political conflict.

Importance of developing backup plans to avoid reverting to environmentally destructive practices like coal dependency.
Clean energy sources like solar and wind must be approached carefully to mitigate their ecological footprint during infrastructure development.

Understand the transition from fossil fuels, the implications of energy extraction, and the importance of sustainability in addressing climate change.
Examine the complex balance each energy source presents regarding economic benefits versus environmental impacts.