Energy & Its Impact on Global Society

1. Energy & Its Impact on Global Society Jerome K. Williams, Ph.D. Saint Leo University Dept. Mathematics & Sciences

2. Chapter 7: Energy from Fossil Fuels • Resources & Terminology • Coal • Oil • Natural Gas • Future Sources of Fossil Fuels

3. Resources & Terminology • 85% commercial energy resources used in world come from fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas) • Supply of fossil fuels is running out

4. Resources & Terminology • To Categorize types of oil reserves, one uses a McKelvey Diagram

6. Resources & Terminology • Reserves are defined as those resources that are well known through geological exploration and are recoverable at current prices • Proven reserves • Indicated reserves • Inferred reserves

7. Source: US Energy Information Administration

8. Coal • World’s most abundant fuel • US called “Saudi Arabia” of Coal • Coal resources: 3 trillion tons • 80% total fossil fuel reserves in US • 23% of US energy needs (electricity)

9. Coal • Classification or Ranks Coal: based on carbon content found in coal • Lignite • Subbituminous • Bituminous • Anthracite

10. Source: US Geological Survey Bulletin, 1412 (1975)

11. Coal • Coal Extraction: Strip Mining Videos • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhbkoFik_8 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbUV7i3KEME

12. Coal • Extracting Coal: Strip Mining & Ramifications • Environmental • Social • Economic • Political

13. Oil • World appetite for oil continues to grow • (2009) 86 MBPD consumption per day • US consumes 25% of this total; 57% imported oil • Oil use dates back to Biblical times & has been used by many cultures (e.g., heating, lighting, medicine, roads)

14. Oil • Petroleum is complex mixture of hydrocarbons (compounds of carbon and hydrogen) • Contents: crude oil, natural gas and semi-solids • Originates from decay of organic material, usually marine life that is buried over many millions of years under ocean sediment

15. Oil • Petroleum’s use dates back to Biblical times; applications found in many cultures • heating, lighting, medicine, waterproofing, roads • By-products isolated by refining process. Heat mixture and pass it into large fractionating tower where separation by boiling point occurs

17. Oil • Products from tower are further treated to produce end use items like gasoline, diesel oil, jet fuel, heating oil, etc.

18. Oil • Search for oil is getting harder due to most large land deposits are already known • Most increases in US reserves expected to come from offshore drilling; makes sense due to petroleum originating from decaying marine matter

19. Oil • Challenges to Offshore Exploration • Environmental • Political • Economic

20. Natural Gas • Mixture of light hydrocarbons, primarily methane • Formed from decayed organic matter • Categorized as nonassociated gas or associated gas

21. Natural Gas • Pipeline system required to transport gas (US: 300,000 miles pipeline) • Advantages: • Relatively inexpensive compared to gasoline • Cleaner-burning fuel (less CO2 released) • Readily available

22. Natural Gas • Uses: • Space heating • Water heating • Fuel (industrial boilers, electricity producing gas turbines, and chemical feedstock)

23. Natural Gas • World Reserves: 6200 tcf • 60 year window (assume Rate = 108 tcf/year) • Russia, Iran, Qatar have largest reserves • US: 50% natural gas found in Gulf Coast region

26. Natural Gas • Advances in Technology have allowed US to find and use indicated reserves of natural gas: • New drilling techniques (Hydraulic fracturing) • Gas Hydrates found underneath oceans & in permafrost of Arctic • Transportation difficulty overcome by shipping natural gas in liquid state (called liquefied natural gas or LNG)

27. Future Sources of Fossil Fuels • Gasification of Coal • Liquefaction of Coal • Oil Shale (US) • Tar Sands or Oil Sands (Canada)

28. Problems • 1, 3, 4, 6