THE POINT SHOULD BE MADE THAT MOST OF OUR ENERGY COMES FROM THE SUN. IN FACT, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF NUCLEAR, IT ALL COMES FROM THE SUN. FOSSIL FUELS SOLAR WIND HYDRO

MOST OF OUR ENERGY COMES FROM FOSSIL FUELS. FOSSIL FUELS WERE ONCE LIVING ORGANISMS, BUT OVER MILLIONS OF YEARS, THEY HAVE BEEN CHANGED BY BACTERIAL ACTION, HEAT, AND PRESSURE. COAL – MOSTLY CARBON THAT WAS ONCE PART OF LIVING PLANTS THAT EXISTED IN SHALLOW SWAMPS AROUND 300 MILLION YEARS AGO PETROLEUM – RESIDUE OF SINGLE-CELLED ORGANISMS THAT LIVED IN SHALLOW SEAS 250 TO 300 MILLION YEARS AGO

NATURAL GAS – FORMED FROM THE DECOMPOSITION OF COAL OR PETROLEUM (MOSTLY PETROLEUM) THROUGH THE ACTION OF HEAT AND PRESSURE

COAL A CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE OF THE WORLD COAL RESERVE IS 10 TRILLION TONS. THE U.S. HAS ABOUT 25% OF THE WORLD’S COAL – ABOUT 10,000 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL EQUIVALENT. SOME ESTIMATES SUGGEST THAT WE HAVE ENOUGH COAL TO LAST 300 YEARS.

OLD STYLE TUNNEL MINING

NEW APPROACH - STRIP MINING

COAL IS A VERY DIRTY FUEL. IT IS HIGH IN SULFUR. WHEN YOU BURN COAL, YOU CONVERT THE SULFUR TO SULFUR DIOXIDE WHICH IS A SOURCE OF ACID RAIN. IT CONTAINS HEAVY METALS SUCH AS MERCURY. BURNING COAL ALSO GENERATES CARBON DIOXIDE AND FLY ASH.

MANY OF THE NEWER ELECTRICAL GENERATING PLANTS ARE FIRED BY NATURAL GAS RATHER THAN COAL. 1.THEY ARE CHEAPER TO BUILD 2.FUEL TRANSPORTATION IS EASIER – PIPELINES RATHER THAN TRAINS 3.LESS CARBON DIOXIDE 4.FEWER POLLUTANTS – NO FLY ASH, MERCURY, SULFUR DIOXIDE 5.QUICKER TO START UP AND SHUT DOWN (THIS IS AN ADVANTAGE IN USING JOINTLY WITH SOLAR OR WIND)

U.S. Transportation Energy Sources Energy Use by Transportation Method 28% of U.S. Energy goes into Transportation

CURRENTLY, MOST OF OUR ENERGY FOR TRANSPORTATION COMES FROM PETROLEUM. LIQUID FUELS OFFER CERTAIN ADVANTAGES: 1)THEY ARE COMPACT (SMALL VOLUME FOR A LOT OF ENERGY) 2)THEY ARE EASY TO TRANSPORT BY PIPELINE 3)THEY ARE EASY TO FEED INTO AN ENGINE

PETROLEUM HAS BEEN KNOWN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THE ANCIENT PERSIANS AND PRE-COLUMBINA INDIANS BELIEVED IT HAD MEDICAL PROPERTIES. THE EGYPTIANS USED IT IN EMBALMING. THE PHONECIANS USED IT FOR CAULKING SHIPS. HOWEVER, LARGE SCALE USE IS VERY RECENT.

SPINDLETOP OIL FIELD, BEAUMONT, TX

WHAT IS PETROLEUM?

PETROLEUM IS A MIXTURE OF MOLECULES COMPOSED MOSTLY OF CARBON AND HYDROGEN. THE CARBONS CAN BE ARRANGED IN CHAINS OR RINGS – REMEMBER, CARBON CAN BOND TO ITSELF. YOU CAN HAVE COMPOUNDS AS SIMPLE AS CH 4, WHICH IS METHANE (NATURAL GAS) ALL THE WAY UP TO COMPOUDS CONTAINING 40 OR MORE CARBON ATOMS PER MOLECULE.

THESE FRACTIONS ARE SEPARATED BY BOILING POINT IN A REFINERY BY A PROCESS CALLED DISTILLATION.

U.S. OIL PRODUCTION PEAKED AT 9.6 MILLION BARRELS PER DAY IN IN 2004, U.S. PRODUCTION WAS 5.4 MILLION BARRELS PER DAY.

RESERVES – PETROLEUM THAT IS KNOWN AND SUSPECTED AND COULD BE EXTRACTED PROFITABLY USING CURRENT TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES – RESERVES PLUS FUTURE PROJECTED FINDS – USUALLY SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN RESERVES world-factbook/rankorder/2178rank.htmlhttps:// world-factbook/rankorder/2178rank.html - data on next page

COUNTRYRESERVES, BBL% OF WORLD SAUDI ARABIA26317 % VENEZUELA21114 % CANADA % IRAN1379 % IRAQ % KUWAIT % UAE986.5 % RUSSIA604 % LIBYA463 % NIGERIA372.4 % KAZAKHSTAN302 % QATAR261.7 % UNITED STATES211.4 % CHINA151 % BRAZIL130.9 %

NOTE: IF YOU ADD UP THE RESERVES FOR ALL OF THE COUNTRIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THE TOTAL WILL BE APPROXIMATELY 50%. PROJECTED USE OF OIL FOR 2013 IS 90.1 MILLION BARRELS PER DAY, WHICH IS 32.9 BILLION BARRELS PER YEAR World reserves = trillion barrels 1.5 trillion barrels / 32.9 billion barrels/yr = 46 years (but….not so simple…..)

“The United States consumed a total of 6.87 billion barrels (18.83 million barrels per day) in 2011 and 7.0 billion barrels (19.18 million barrels per day) of refined petroleum products and biofuels in For both years, this was about 22% of total world petroleum consumption.”

THE UNITED STATES HAS RESERVES OF 21 BILLION BARRELS. WE CONSUME 6.87 BILLION BARRELS PER YEAR. IF WE WERE “ENERGY INDEPENDENT” WE WOULD USE UP OUR RESERVES IN A LITTLE OVER 3 YEARS. SO, WHEN YOU HEAR A POLITICIAN TALKING ABOUT ENERGY INDPENDENCE AND HE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT A HUGE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PROGRAM, DON’T BELIEVE A WORD HE/SHE SAYS.

THE U.S. IMPORTS OVER 70% OF ITS PETROLEUM. AMERICANS USE MORE ENERGY AND MORE PETROLEUM THAN ANYONE. WITH LESS THAN 5% OF THE POPULATION, WE BURN 22% OF THE WORLD’S PETROLEUM. THE AMERICAN LIFESTYLE IS TWICE AS ENERGY INTENSIVE AS THAT IN EUROPE AND JAPAN, AND ABOUT 10 TIMES THE GLOBAL AVERAGE. THE DEVELOPING WORLD WANTS TO EMULATE OUR LIFESTYLE.