Fossil Fuels and Alternative Energy

Fossil Fuels are combustible deposits of altered organic material that originated through the slow transformation of the remains of ancient plants and animals

The ultimate source of energy at the earths surface is the sun

Adds mass amounts of co2 leading to global warming

Fossil fuels are nonrenewable because we are using them at greater rates than they are reproducing

80% of global primary energy is currently supplied by fossil fuels

First fossil fuel to be widely used at the beginning of the IR was coal

Petroleum consists of hydrocarbonTwo basic typesCrude oilNatural Gas

Petroleum forms because of the burial of marine microorganisms and sediments and then heat and pressure transform carbohydrates into hydrocarbons

Tar sands are sediments saturated with asphalt-like dense hydrocarbonsOil shale’s are fine-grained clastic rock (shale-like) contains solid waxy material called kerogen.

Large volumes of shale – way easier to access

Shale uses lots of water and pollutes it – mining causes huge amounts of surface disruption and there is only about 50% resulting energy – you only get 50% more than what you put in backTar sands you need to remove impurities and need to add hydrogen to upgrade it and then refine it

Shale gas lets us double our use of petroleum if we used itCoal bed methane- 100 trillion cubic feet of recoverable methane

Coal: a readily combustible, hydrocarbon-rich rock formed from the compaction and heating of the remains of land plants

Carboniferous period- is when most of the coal formed

Glacial melt was responsible for the sea level fluctuations