Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future Richard T' Wright

1
Environmental Science Toward a Sustainable
Future Richard T. Wright
Chapter 12

• Energy from Fossil Fuels
• PPT by Clark E. Adams

2
Energy from Fossil Fuels

• Energy sources and uses
• Exploiting crude oil
• Other fossil fuels
• Fossil fuels and energy security

3
The Fossil Fuel Dilemma

• Primary source of energy for transportation
• Supports a drill, spill, and kill legacy
• More sustainable alternatives are available

4
Oil in the early 1970s

• Oil production decreased
• New oil was not being found as fast as it was
  consumed
• Decrease in US crude oil production
• Steep Increase in crude oil consumption
• Increase in costs of crude oil
• Imports of oil withheld at the source
• Result
• Increase importation of crude oil

5
Energy production in 1980s

• Increased production from old oil fields
• Opening Alaskan Prudhoe Bay oil field
• Alaskan pipeline built to help increase production

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Increased Use Since the 1970s

• Consumption of fuels derived from oil
• The gap between production and consumption
• United States dependence on foreign oil

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Energy Sources and Uses

• Harnessing energy sources an overview
• Electrical power production
• Matching sources to uses

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Harnessing Energy Sources An Overview

• Slaves
• Domestic animals
• Wind and water
• Steam (ships and locomotives)
• Gasoline (internal combustion followed by turbine
  engine)
• Nuclear

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Energy Consumption in the United States

• Sequence of use
• Wood
• Water (steam)
• Coal
• Natural gas
• Oil
• Nuclear power

3, 4, and 5 83.5 of U.S. energy consumption
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Exploiting Crude Oil

• How fossil fuels are formed
• Crude-oil reserves versus production
• Declining U.S. reserves and increasing
  importation
• Problems of growing U.S. dependency on foreign oil

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Crude-Oil Reserves versus Production

• Estimated reserves educated guesses about the
  location and size of oil or natural gas deposits
• Proven reserves how much oil can be economically
  obtained from the oil field
• Production withdrawal of oil or gas from the oil
  field

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What a Barrel of Persian Gulf Oil Really Costs
U.S. Consumers

• 30 in initial costs
• 61 for military support services
• 91 per barrel of oil

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Problems from Foreign Oil Dependency

• Variations in cost of purchases
• Threat of supply disruptions
• Limitations of nonrenewable resource

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Impacts of Foreign Oil Dependence

• Trade imbalances
• Military actions
• Pollution of oceans
• Coastal oil spills

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Hubbert Predictions

• U.S. oil production would peak (1970s)
• Dependence on OPEC oil will increase

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Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
OPEC

• Algeria
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Iraq
• Kuwait
• Libya

• Nigeria
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• United Emirates
• Venezuela

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Other Fossil Fuels

• Natural gas 50-year supply
• Coal 400-year supply
• Oil shales and oil sands complex extraction
  technologies

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Fossil Fuels and Energy Security

• Security threats
• Supply-side policies
• Demand-side policies
• Development of non-fossil-fuel energy sources

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Security Threats

• Oil dependence relies too much on OPEC cartel
  and volatile Persian Gulf states
• Energy infrastructure vulnerable to terrorist
  attacks
• Global climate change greenhouse gas emissions

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The Potential of the Conservation Reserve
An oil field that has the potential production of
6 million barrels per day, is three times the
size of the Alaskan oil field, and its
exploitation will NOT adversely effect the
environment.
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The Elements of the Conservation Reserve

• Increasing fuel efficiency in cars (CAFÉ)
• Cogeneration (CHPs)
• Use fluorescent lights
• Increase home insulation

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End of Chapter 12