1. Chapter 12 Energy from Fossil Fuels
Environmental Science

2. In The Past

3. Consumption
US energy

5. Disadvantages Electricity from Coal Burning
Pollution from primary energy source of burning coal, especially CO2 global warming
Coal contains sulfur, mercury and sometimes radioactive contaminants that when burned enter our atmosphere to make it to water ways, etc
Sulfur oxide compounds create acid rain and acidic soil & waterways making it hard on biota
Environmental effects of the mining process also like habitat alterations, mineral leaching, erosion, formation of sinkholes, etc
Only 35%efficiency of 2ºenergy source

9. OPEC Members AFRICA: Algeria, Angola, Nigeria, Libya
S. AMERICA: Ecuador, Venezuela
MIDDLE EAST: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates

10. US Oil Production and Consumption
OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
Arab Oil Embargo: OPEC Arab members blocked exports of oil to US from Oct 1973 to March 1974 for the US support of Israel in Yom Kippur War
Strategic Reserve

11. Economics of Energy Use
Supply side economic fixes to high energy prices
Increase domestic production
Exploratory drilling
Alaska Pipeline
Demand side fixes to high energy prices:
Decrease consumption
CAFÉ Standards, Fuel efficiency
(Corporate Average Fuel Economy)
Conservation goals and energy efficiency
55 mph speed limits
Alternative energies technological development, tax
incentives and government investments

12. Consumption, Domestic Production, and imports of Petroleum

13. Hubbart Predictions U.S. Oil production would peak (1970s)
Dependence on OPEC oil will increase
Oil production will follow a bell-shaped curve

14. Issues of Foreign Dependence?
Trade imbalances
Military actions
Pollution of oceans
Coastal oil spills
Variations in cost of purchases
Threat of supply disruptions
Limitations of nonrenewable resource

15. What does a barrel really cost?
$14 in initial costs
+ $80 for military support services
= $94 per barrel of oil

16. Other Fossil Fuels Natural Gas Cost subject to market fluctuation
Currently have a 50 year supply
Pipeline dangerous b/c kept
at high pressure
Used for heating/furnace
Can run a modified car, liquified gas
Made into synthetic oil

17. Other Fossil Fuels Coal 56% of electricity 250 year supply
Produce more coal than use
Mining issues?
Lots of waste (20,000 tons CO2, 800 tons SO2
Synfuels! (by-products are an issue)

18. Other Fossil Fuels Oil Shales and Oil Sands
Once heated, vapors condensed into something similar to crude oil
Use/modification extremely impractical at the moment

19. Issues of Using Fossil Fuels

20. Cogeneration

21. ANWR Read Ethics section on page 305-306 I’ve assigned you a side
Black: Pro drilling
Red: Anti-drilling
Research and have a debate/discussion on Monday

22. Mining Techniques
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from an ore (rock) body, mineral vein or coal seam
Process: mining usually involves first removing overlying soil and rock (the overburden) and putting this into valleyfills or tailing piles
Surface mining is more common (98% of metallic ores) includes: Open pit mining (big deep holes), Strip mining (removing surface layer), Mountain Top Removal (often used with coal deposits)
Subsurface Mining including: drift mining (horizontal access tunnels), shaft mining (vertical) and slope mining
In-situ leaching (uses acids to dissolve the minerals, usually U)
Tailings are the excess waste rock, minerals and contaminants

23. Mining Techniques
Copper Ore is typically the mineral chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) or sometimes found in malachite mineral CuCO3•Cu(OH)2
Average grade of 0.6% for Cu ore
Extractive metallurgy Process: pulverize the ore, solubolize it with acids (leaching) or with smelting (heating and electrolysis), then isolate the Cu through redox chemical reactions

24. Coal Mining Reclamation
Surface mining is common proactive in Wyoming
Reclamation of Wyoming prairies and rolling hills is often very successful
Not as complicated an ecosystem as those with mountains, forests and river beds
Mountain Top Removal mining, often used in Appalacian Mountains in the East, has been less suscessful with reclamation
724 miles of Appalacian streams buried by valley fills from 1985 to 2001, loss of biodiversity
Nearby streams higher levels of acid content (sulfur run-off from coal) and thus more dissolved minerals and heavy metals
Blasting releases dust and flyrock with high sulfur content causing corrosion of structures
Sometimes no reforestation, possible erosion issues

25. Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
“smackra” SMCRA 1977, under President Carter, is primary federal law regulating env. impact of coal mining
It requires Coal Companies to:
set up bonds controlled by the government to pay for reclamation cost estimates
Restore/reclaim land by recontouring/regrading land to original topography, adding topsoil and/or nutrients, replanting native vegetation (fast growing secondary successional species), monitoring for either 5 or 10 years after
Possible remediations (or fines) for excessive sulfur (H2SO4 acid) tailings include: neutralize with alkaline/base substances like limestone (CaCO3), NaOH, NaHCO3, and ammonia NH3, cover tailings to reduce precipitation contact; bioremediation with sulfate-reducing bacteria; tailings ponds/retention basins to prevent airborne movement

26. In-situ mining for Uranium
Injected solutions to dissolve minerals, then extraction and recrystalization