The Era of Fossil Fuels Fossil fuels: petroleum, natural gas and coal (organic) Currently 90% of current US energy from from fossil fuels Expected oil production peak: Consumption currently increasing Projected world oil production will be exhausted by 2100 Produces significant and diverse pollution problems o Greenhouse gasses o Gaseous Sulfur and nitrogen oxides o Land-based disturbances

© 2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Proven world oil reserves in 1998.

© 2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Fig 17.9 World coal reserves in 1999.

© 2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Total energy consumption for the United States,

© 2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Taxes for 1 gal of gasoline in U.S. dollars equivalent for selected countries, 1995.

Historical Research and Development Dollars

Current Energy Tax Breaks

Pollution Health Impacts –More than 131 million Americans live in areas where smog pollution makes their air unsafe to breathe, and every year over 45,000 lives are cut short by air pollution. –The National Academy of Sciences estimates that every year 60,000 children may be born at a significantly increased risk of neurological defects primarily due to mothers eating mercury-contaminated fish.

Pollution Oil Spills –31,000 galloons of spilled into waterways every day –Between 1973 and 1993 there were 200,000 oil spills in U.S. waters, spilling more than 230 million gallons of oil.

Pollution Land Destruction –Mountaintop removal in West Virginia –Tens of thousands of coalbed methane wells in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming

Pollution Global Warming –With only 4 percent of the world's population, we produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution –Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that the Earth's average surface temperature will increase between 2.5 and 10.4°F (1.4 to 5.8°C) between 1990 and 2100 if no major efforts are undertaken to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (the "business-as-usual" scenario).