I am accustomed to flipping a switch and
a light bulb glow. I turn a knob on a big metal box and fire comes out. I push
a button on a piece of plastic and the door unlocks or the radio turns on or
the car starts. I don’t know much about that last part, but I hear we have
become so lazy that we have to ask Siri where we left our keys.
All these conveniences take energy. The
car won’t roll with petrol. The phone won’t ring with a dead battery. When you
can’t recharge your social media appliances, you are alone in the darkness.
So, they say, as they do, that all this
use of ‘fossil fuels’ is ruining our little blue space ship and possibly promoting
our extinction. Everyone is shuffling to find a way to undo the bad effects on
our atmosphere while keeping all our conveniences comforting our lazy
lifestyle.
I’m old enough to remember when striking
oil was a big deal. Texas was a center for giant Cadillac cars with Stetson,
cigar smoking white guys burning dollar bills because they were so rich. Like
the previous gold rush, everyone started to ‘drill baby, drill’. Places where
before were sand and nomads wandering around on camels became a glut of oil
with all of its wealth. Now the precious commodity is shipped around the world
through ships and pipelines and trucks to fuel our increasing want for more.
When the oil doesn’t flow, the economy stops.
There must have been a lot of dinosaurs
to produce all this liquid gold that flows through the veins of our lives from
their dead bodies.
A fossil fuel is a carbon compound-
or hydrocarbon-containing material such as coal, oil, and natural gas, formed
naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of prehistoric organisms
(animals, plants and planktons), a process that occurs within geological
formations. Reservoirs of such compound mixtures can be extracted and burned as
a fuel for human consumption to provide heat for direct use (such as for
cooking or heating), to power heat engines (such as steam or internal
combustion engines) that can propel vehicles, or to generate electricity via
steam turbine generators. Some fossil fuels are further refined into
derivatives such as kerosene, gasoline and diesel.
The origin of fossil fuels is the
anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms containing organic molecules
created by photosynthetic carbon fixation. The conversion from these materials
to high-carbon fossil fuels typically requires a geological process of millions
of years. Due to the length of time it takes nature to form them, fossil fuels
are considered non-renewable resources.
In 2022, over 80% of primary energy
consumption in the world and over 60% of its electricity was from fossil fuels.
The large-scale burning of fossil fuels causes serious environmental damage.
Over 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions due to human activity in 2022 was CO2
from burning them. Natural processes on Earth, mostly absorption by the ocean,
can remove only a small part of this CO2. Therefore, there is a net increase of
many billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year. Although methane
leaks are significant, the burning of fossil fuels is the main source of
greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming and ocean acidification.
Additionally, most air pollution deaths are due to fossil fuel particulates and
noxious gases. It is estimated that this costs over 3% of the global gross
domestic product and that fossil fuel phase-out will save millions of lives
each year.
Recognition of the climate crisis,
pollution and other negative impacts caused by fossil fuels has led to a widespread
policy transition and activist movement focused on ending their use in favor of
sustainable energy. Because the fossil-fuel industry is so heavily integrated
in the global economy and heavily subsidized, this transition is expected to
have significant economic impacts. Many stakeholders argue that this change
needs to be a just transition and create policy that addresses the societal
burdens created by the stranded assets of the fossil fuel industry.
International policy, in the form of
United Nations sustainable development goals for affordable and clean energy
and climate action, as well as the Paris Climate Agreement, is designed to
facilitate this transition at a global level. In 2021, the International Energy
Agency concluded that no new fossil fuel extraction projects could be opened if
the global economy and society wants to avoid the worst impacts of climate
change and meet international goals for climate change mitigation.
Crude oil, or petroleum, and its refined components, collectively
termed petrochemicals, are crucial resources in the modern economy. Crude oil
originates from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and
algae, which geochemical processes convert into oil. The name "mineral
oil" is a misnomer, in that minerals are not the source of the oil—ancient
plants and animals are. Mineral oil is organic. However, it is classified as
"mineral oil" instead of as "organic oil" because its
organic origin is remote (and was unknown at the time of its discovery), and
because it is obtained in the vicinity of rocks, underground traps, and sands.
Mineral oil also refers to several specific distillates of crude oil.
Some oils burn in liquid or aerosol form, generating light, and heat
which can be used directly or converted into other forms of energy such as
electricity or mechanical work. In order to obtain many fuel oils, crude oil is
pumped from the ground and is shipped via oil tanker or a pipeline to an oil
refinery. There, it is converted from crude oil to diesel fuel (Petro diesel),
ethane (and other short-chain alkanes), fuel oils (heaviest of commercial
fuels, used in ships/furnaces), gasoline (petrol), jet fuel, kerosene, benzene
(historically), and liquefied petroleum gas. A 42-US-gallon (35 imp gal;
160 L) barrel of crude oil produces approximately 10 US gallons
(8.3 imp gal; 38 L) of diesel, 4 US gallons
(3.3 imp gal; 15 L) of jet fuel, 19 US gallons
(16 imp gal; 72 L) of gasoline, 7 US gallons (5.8 imp gal;
26 L) of other products, 3 US gallons (2.5 imp gal; 11 L)
split between heavy fuel oil and liquified petroleum gases, and 2 US gallons
(1.7 imp gal; 7.6 L) of heating oil. The total production of a
barrel of crude into various products results in an increase to 45 US gallons
(37 imp gal; 170 L).
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock,
formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable
amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal
is a type of fossil fuel, formed when dead plant matter decays into peat which
is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of
years. Vast deposits of coal originate in former wetlands called coal forests
that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late
Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.
Coal is used primarily as a fuel. While
coal has been known and used for thousands of years, its usage was limited
until the Industrial Revolution. With the invention of the steam engine, coal
consumption increased. In 2020, coal supplied about a quarter of the world's
primary energy and over a third of its electricity. Some iron and steel-making
and other industrial processes burn coal.
The extraction and burning of coal
damages the environment, causing premature death and illness, and it is the
largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide contributing to climate change.
Fourteen billion tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted by burning coal in 2020,
which is 40% of total fossil fuel emissions and over 25% of total global
greenhouse gas emissions. As part of worldwide energy transition, many
countries have reduced or eliminated their use of coal power. The United
Nations Secretary General asked governments to stop building new coal plants by
2020.
Global coal use was 8.3 billion tonnes in
2022, and is set to remain at record levels in 2023. To meet the Paris
Agreement target of keeping global warming below 2 °C (3.6 °F) coal
use needs to halve from 2020 to 2030, and "phasing down" coal was
agreed upon in the Glasgow Climate Pact.
Natural gas
(also called fossil gas, methane gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring
mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane (95%) in
addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Traces of carbon
dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and helium are also usually present.
Methane is colorless and odorless, and the second largest greenhouse gas
contributor to global climate change after carbon dioxide. Because natural gas
is odorless, odorizes such as mercaptan (which smells like sulfur or rotten
eggs) are commonly added to it for safety so that leaks can be readily
detected.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel that is
formed when layers of organic matter (primarily marine microorganisms) decompose
under anaerobic conditions and are subjected to intense heat and pressure
underground over millions of years. The energy that the decayed organisms
originally obtained from the sun via photosynthesis is stored as chemical
energy within the molecules of methane and other hydrocarbons.
Natural gas can be burned for heating,
cooking, and electricity generation. It is also used as a chemical feedstock in
the manufacture of plastics and other commercially important organic chemicals
and less commonly used as a fuel for vehicles.
The extraction and consumption of natural
gas is a major and growing contributor to climate change. Both the gas itself
(specifically methane) and carbon dioxide, which is released when natural gas
is burned, are greenhouse gases. When burned for heat or electricity, natural
gas emits fewer toxic air pollutants, less carbon dioxide, and almost no
particulate matter compared to other fossil and biomass fuels. However, gas
venting and unintended fugitive emissions throughout the supply chain can
result in natural gas having a similar carbon footprint to other fossil fuels
overall.
Natural gas can be found in underground
geological formations, often alongside other fossil fuels like coal and oil
(petroleum). Most natural gas has been created through either biogenic or
thermogenic processes. Thermogenic gas takes a much longer period of time to
form and is created when organic matter is heated and compressed deep
underground. Methanogenic organisms produce methane from a variety of sources,
principally carbon dioxide.
During petroleum production, natural gas
is sometimes flared rather than being collected and used. Before natural gas
can be burned as a fuel or used in manufacturing processes, it almost always
has to be processed to remove impurities such as water. The byproducts of this
processing include ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, and higher molecular
weight hydrocarbons. Hydrogen sulfide (which may be converted into pure
sulfur), carbon dioxide, water vapor, and sometimes helium and nitrogen must
also be removed.
Natural gas is sometimes informally
referred to simply as "gas", especially when it is being compared to
other energy sources, such as oil, coal or renewables. However, it is not to be
confused with gasoline, which is also shortened in colloquial usage to
"gas", especially in North America.
Natural gas is measured in standard cubic
meters or standard cubic feet. The density compared to air ranges from 0.58
(16.8 g/mole, 0.71 kg per standard cubic meter) to as high as 0.79
(22.9 g/mole, 0.97 kg per scm), but generally less than 0.64
(18.5 g/mole, 0.78 kg per scm).[18] For comparison, pure methane
(16.0425 g/mole) has a density 0.5539 times that of air (0.678 kg per
standard cubic meter).
Asphalt is an immensely
viscous constituent of petroleum. Depending on its exact composition it can be
a sticky, black liquid or an apparently solid mass that behaves as a liquid
over very large time scales. In American English, the material is commonly
referred to as asphalt. Whether found in natural deposits or refined from
petroleum, the substance is classed as a pitch. Prior to the 20th century, the
term asphaltum was in general use. The word derives from the Ancient Greek word
ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos), which referred
to natural bitumen or pitch. The largest natural deposit of bitumen in the
world is the Pitch Lake of southwest Trinidad, which is estimated to contain 10
million tons.
About 70% of annual bitumen production is
destined for road construction, its primary use. In this application, bitumen
is used to bind aggregate particles like gravel and forms a substance referred
to as asphalt concrete, which is colloquially termed asphalt. Its other main
uses lie in bituminous waterproofing products, such as roofing felt and roof
sealant.
In material sciences and engineering, the
terms asphalt and bitumen are often used interchangeably and refer both to
natural and manufactured forms of the substance, although there is regional
variation as to which term is most common. Worldwide, geologists tend to favor
the term bitumen for the naturally occurring material. For the manufactured
material, which is a refined residue from the distillation process of selected
crude oils, bitumen is the prevalent term in much of the world; however, in
American English, asphalt is more commonly used. To help avoid confusion, the
terms "liquid asphalt", "asphalt binder", or "asphalt
cement" are used in the U.S. to distinguish it from asphalt concrete.
Colloquially, various forms of bitumen are sometimes referred to as
"tar", as in the name of the La Brea Tar Pits.
Naturally occurring bitumen is sometimes
specified by the term crude bitumen. Its viscosity is similar to that of cold
molasses while the material obtained from the fractional distillation of crude
oil boiling at 525 °C (977 °F) is sometimes referred to as
"refined bitumen". The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the
world's reserves of natural bitumen in the Athabasca oil sands, which cover
142,000 square kilometers (55,000 sq mi), an area larger than
England.
Along with all our fossil fuels are the
substances that make our infrastructure work.
Iron is always the
main element in steel, but many other elements may be present or added.
Stainless steels, which are resistant to corrosion and oxidation, typically
need an additional 11% chromium.
Iron is the base metal of steel.
Depending on the temperature, it can take two crystalline forms (allotropic
forms): body-centered cubic and face-centered cubic. The interaction of the
allotropes of iron with the alloying elements, primarily carbon, gives steel
and cast iron their range of unique properties. In pure iron, the crystal
structure has relatively little resistance to the iron atoms slipping past one
another, and so pure iron is quite ductile, or soft and easily formed. In
steel, small amounts of carbon, other elements, and inclusions within the iron
act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations.
The carbon in typical steel alloys may
contribute up to 2.14% of its weight. Varying the amount of carbon and many
other alloying elements, as well as controlling their chemical and physical
makeup in the final steel (either as solute elements, or as precipitated
phases), impedes the movement of the dislocations that make pure iron ductile,
and thus controls and enhances its qualities. These qualities include the
hardness, quenching behavior, need for annealing, tempering behavior, yield
strength, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. The increase in steel's
strength compared to pure iron is possible only by reducing iron's ductility.
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon with improved strength and
fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Because of its high
tensile strength and low cost, steel is one of the most commonly manufactured
materials in the world. Steel is used in buildings, as concrete reinforcing
rods, in bridges, infrastructure, tools, ships, trains, cars, bicycles,
machines, electrical appliances, furniture, and weapons.
Steel was produced in bloomery furnaces
for thousands of years, but its large-scale, industrial use began only after
more efficient production methods were devised in the 17th century, with the
introduction of the blast furnace and production of crucible steel. This was
followed by the Bessemer process in England in the mid-19th century, and then by
the open-hearth furnace. With the invention of the Bessemer process, a new era
of mass-produced steel began. Mild steel replaced wrought iron. The German
states were the major steel producers in Europe in the 19th century. American
steel production was centered in Pittsburgh, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and
Cleveland until the late 20th century.
Further refinements in the process, such
as basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), largely replaced earlier methods by further
lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the final
product. Today more than 1.6 billion tons of steel is produced annually.
Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted
standards organizations. The modern steel industry is one of the largest manufacturing
industries in the world, but also one of the most energy and greenhouse gas
emission intense industries, contributing 8% of global emissions. However,
steel is also very reusable: it is one of the world's most-recycled materials,
with a recycling rate of over 60% globally.
Cements used in
construction are usually inorganic, often lime- or calcium silicate-based,
which can be characterized as hydraulic or the less common non-hydraulic,
depending on the ability of the cement to set in the presence of water (see
hydraulic and non-hydraulic lime plaster).
A cement is a binder, a chemical
substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other
materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather
to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate
produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete.
Concrete is the most widely used material in existence and is behind only water
as the planet's most-consumed resource.
Hydraulic cements (e.g., Portland cement)
set and become adhesive through a chemical reaction between the dry ingredients
and water. The chemical reaction results in mineral hydrates that are not very
water-soluble. This allows setting in wet conditions or under water and further
protects the hardened material from chemical attack. The chemical process for
hydraulic cement was found by ancient Romans who used volcanic ash (pozzolana)
with added lime (calcium oxide).
Non-hydraulic cement (less common) does not
set in wet conditions or under water. Rather, it sets as it dries and reacts
with carbon dioxide in the air. It is resistant to attack by chemicals after
setting.
The word "cement" can be traced
back to the Ancient Roman term opus caementicium, used to describe masonry
resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed rock with burnt lime as
binder. The volcanic ash and pulverized brick supplements that were added to
the burnt lime, to obtain a hydraulic binder, were later referred to as
cementum, cimentum, cäment, and cement. In modern times, organic polymers are
sometimes used as cements in concrete.
World production of cement is about 4.4
billion tonnes per year (2021, estimation), of which about half is made in
China, followed by India and Vietnam.
The cement production process is
responsible for nearly 8% (2018) of global CO2 emissions, which includes
heating raw materials in a cement kiln by fuel combustion and resulting release
of CO2 stored in the calcium carbonate (calcination process). Its hydrated
products, such as concrete, gradually reabsorb substantial amounts of
atmospheric CO2 (carbonation process) compensating near 30% of initial CO2
emissions, as estimations suggest.
Concrete
is a composite material composed of aggregate bonded together with a fluid
cement that cures to a solid over time. Concrete is the second-most-used
substance in the world after water, and is the most widely used building
material. Its usage worldwide, ton for ton, is twice that of steel, wood,
plastics, and aluminum combined.
When aggregate is mixed with dry Portland
cement and water, the mixture forms a fluid slurry that is easily poured and
molded into shape. The cement reacts with the water through a process called
concrete hydration that hardens it over several hours to form a hard matrix
that binds the materials together into a durable stone-like material that has
many uses. This time allows concrete to not only be cast in forms, but also to
have a variety of tooled processes performed. The hydration process is
exothermic, which means ambient temperature plays a significant role in how
long it takes concrete to set. Often, additives (such as pozzolans or
superplasticizers) are included in the mixture to improve the physical
properties of the wet mix, delay or accelerate the curing time, or otherwise
change the finished material. Most concrete is poured with reinforcing
materials (such as steel rebar) embedded to provide tensile strength, yielding
reinforced concrete.
In the past, lime-based cement binders, such
as lime putty, were often used but sometimes with other hydraulic cements,
(water resistant) such as a calcium aluminate cement or with Portland cement to
form Portland cement concrete (named for its visual resemblance to Portland
stone). Many other non-cementitious types of concrete exist with other methods
of binding aggregate together, including asphalt concrete with a bitumen
binder, which is frequently used for road surfaces, and polymer concretes that
use polymers as a binder. Concrete is distinct from mortar. Whereas concrete is
itself a building material, mortar is a bonding agent that typically holds
bricks, tiles and other masonry units together. Grout is another material
associated with concrete and cement. It does not contain coarse aggregates and
is usually either pourable or thixotropic, and is used to fill gaps between
masonry components or coarse aggregate which has already been put in place.
Some methods of concrete manufacture and repair involve pumping grout into the
gaps to make up a solid mass
I try to keep an eye on the meter and
turn off the lights when I leave a room. I put on a sweater rather than raise
the heat, but I use my share of available energy and pay whatever fees the
provider charges. I recycle but that is more for my own self-consciousness
rather
than any change in the environment.
I rationally know that our species are
too greedy for more and will rape the resources of our planet until we destroy
ourselves, but the drain for more power to run our data centers and video
streaming and whatever is created for our immediate gratification will
continue. I may not spend it, but somewhere out there are people making plastic
containers for water bottles and paving roads with black goo and borrowing
money or credit for bigger and better mobile machines and taller buildings and
more ammunition for continuous wars not realizing we can’t stop. Tanks and jet
planes don’t run on solar.
Someday when the oil wells run dry and
the gas shuts off, we might need to be the next fossil fuel?
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