Fossil Fuels In Trinidad and Tobago.

Fossil Fuels Fossil fuels provide around 66% of the world's electrical power, and 95% of the world's total energy demands (including heating, transport, electricity generation and other uses). Coal provides around 28% of energy, oil provides 40% and natural gases provide about 20%. A concern is that the fossil fuels are being used up at an increasing rate, and that they will soon run out. If these fossil fuels were to run out now there would not be a suitable replacement for them that is equally as efficient at producing the same amount of energy.

depletion

About fossil fuels Crude oil, natural gas and coal are fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are very precious resources because they are non-renewable (once they're used, that's it!). We can also make lots of organic chemicals from them, needed to make products such as paints, detergents, polymers (including plastics), cosmetics and some medicines. Fossil fuels were formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants and animals that once lived millions of years ago. Oil and natural gas are the products of the deep burial and decomposition of dead plants and animals. Heat and pressure, in the absence of oxygen, transform the decomposed material into tiny pockets of gas and crude oil. The oil and gas then migrates through the pores in the rocks to eventually collect in reservoirs. Coal comes mainly from dead plants which have been buried and compacted beneath sediments. Most coal originated as peat in ancient swamps created many millions of years ago.

Crude oil Crude oil is the term used for oil that is taken straight out of the ground. It is a "fossil fuel," which means that it formed from organic remains over a period of millions of years. It can be refined into various forms of energy such as gasoline, diesel fuel and heating oil. Crude oil's characteristics vary from "light" - which is a straw-colored liquid - to "heavy" or tar-black solid. It also is called "sweet" or "sour" depending on the amount of sulfur it contains. An abundant commodity, world proven reserves stand at 1,295,085 million barrels. Crude oil is processed at refineries and transformed into useable petroleum products. The cost of transporting and moving crude oil to refineries, plus processing fees, greatly affects the final cost of petroleum products. Motor gasoline constitutes about half of the total volume of products produced from crude oil.

Coal Coal Takes Millions of Years To Create Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock composed mostly of carbon and hydrocarbons. It is the most abundant fossil fuel produced in the United States. Coal is a nonrenewable energy source because it takes millions of years to create. The energy in coal comes from the energy stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, when the Earth was partly covered with swampy forests. For millions of years, a layer of dead plants at the bottom of the swamps was covered by layers of water and dirt, trapping the energy of the dead plants. The heat and pressure from the top layers helped the plant remains turn into what we today call coal.

Natural gas The main ingredient in natural gas is methane, a gas (or compound) composed of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Millions of years ago, the remains of plants and animals (diatoms) decayed and built up in thick layers. This decayed matter from plants and animals is called organic material — it was once alive. Over time, the sand and silt changed to rock, covered the organic material, and trapped it beneath the rock. Pressure and heat changed some of this organic material into coal, some into oil (petroleum), and some into natural gas — tiny bubbles of odorless gas.

By: Tachina Ramgulam Form 1L