2.4 Conventional energy sources
Conventional energy sources are:
2.4.1 Fossil fuel energy
2.4.2 Hydraulic energy
2.4.3 Nuclear energy
2.4.1 Fossil fuel energy
Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are called Fossil fuel as these are formed by the decomposition of the remains of dead plants and animals buried under the earth for a long time. These are conventional sources of energy, which, if exhausted, cannot be replenished in a short time. Their reserves are limited and are considered very precious. These should be used with care and caution to let them last long. These are also contributing to the global environmental pollution.
2.4.1.1 Coal
Since the advent of industrialization coal has been most common source of energy. In the last three decades, the world switched over from coal to oil as a Major source of energy because it is simpler and cleaner to obtain useful energy from oil. Coal is a complex mixture of compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Small amounts of nitrogen and Sulphur compounds are also present in coal. It is mainly available in Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. The big coal mines in our country are at Jharia and Bokaro in Bihar and at Raniganj in West Bengal. It is considered as the backbone of the energy sector for its use in industry, transportation and electric power generation. Depending upon the carbon contents of coal, it is classified as follows:
Type of coal Carbon content (%)
1. Peat 60
2. Lignite (soft coal) 70
3. Bituminous
Fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Oil powers most of the transportation sector. Coal and natural gas power most of our electricity. At the rate of our consumption, these fuels cannot occur fast enough to meet our current of future energy demands.
Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.
Coal is a fossil fuel that is heavily relied upon around the world as a source of electricity generation. Coal, a substance consisting of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur, is created through a natural process consisting of decayed plants that compress under moist conditions for millions of years to become the coal used today. The use of coal as an energy source was responsible for the success of the industrial revolution and was thrust to the forefront of energy generation becoming a dominant fossil fuel. Coal is burned to create steam which in turn spins a turbine to produce the electricity that powers large percentages of multiple nations. Coal has had a long history in the United States as well as globally due to coal’s abundance in the America’s as well as places such as China and India. In comparison to other fossil fuels, coal is the most widely available fuel source and the cheapest available energy source to produce electricity. Coal is mined through two methods: strip and underground mines. Both types of mines cause various environmental issues in the land surrounding mines as well as altering the atmosphere and influencing global warming. The extraction phase of coal mining has the ability to potentially cause soil erosion, alter animal and plant life, pollute groundwater, destroy farmable land, and block streams and rivers. The production phase of coal creates a harmful toxic waste slurry and can cause coal fires in storage areas
Currently fossil fuels are the world’s primary energy source. The fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gases. Fossil fuels are organic materials formed from decayed plants and animals that due to heat and pressure from hundreds of
Most people have a theory that the fossil fuels we have today are from the remains of dead dinosaurs. Which is in fact not true, but what is true is that these fossil fuels were at one time alive. They formed when prehistoric animals and plants died and were covered by rock and other plant growth (energy.gov 2014). Organic matter, along with varying temperatures and pressure worked together to produce the fossil fuels. Different types of fossil fuels were developed depending on how much pressure and what the temperature was involved at the time of the forming of these fossil fuels. (energy.gov 2014). These fossil fuels, what are today known mainly as coal, oil, and natural gas, were the different types of fossil fuels that were developed and which are the ones that are still being used today. According to the U.S. department of energy, oil and natural gas were formed from living things in the ocean, which were then buried under the ocean sediments. Later, the seas and oceans evaporated and they began to compress with heat and pressure under the silt, which is how oil was formed. With that, some of the oil continued to sink underground and kept compressing and causing pressure, which in turn produced natural gas. Coal formed from the dead remains of trees, ferns and other plants that lived 300 to 400 million years ago. In some areas, such as portions of what-is-now the eastern United States, coal was formed from swamps covered by sea water.
The fossil fuel coal is a burnable bituminous black rock that is consisting mainly of carbonized plant matter which is mainly found underground in seams and is also used as a fuel. In time, material that had been plants became coal. The main use for coal today is for generating electricity from one stop to another, cement manufacturing, steel products and as well as a liquid fuel. Coal is formed by plant decay which then turns into peat, the peat will than change to lignite which is a soft brown coal then after that a bituminous coal is formed which is black and brittle but also very polluting, after which an anthracite coal is formed, the anthracite coal contains the highest amount of carbon making it the cleanest and safest to burn. There are two ways coal can be
Fossil energy sources- such as oil, coal, and natural gases are become the major source for the energy which are formed from died prehistoric plants and animals buried in the layers of land over a million of years. But there are lot of impacts on the environment by the use of fossil fuels through combustion resulting in the emission of greenhouse gases. Over the past 20 years three-fourths of human-caused emissions came from the burning of fossil fuels.
Coal has been one of the main and most used resources of energy, although it is a non-renewable resource and is a fossil fuel. Most countries depend on the combustion of coal when it comes to generating electricity. Burning coal has its advantages, like efficiently releasing energy in the form of heat, but it also has its disadvantages. The combustion of coal contributes to many environmental issues like climate change and acid rain, which lead to many health problems. One of the main polluting products of coal combustion is
Coal is a fossil fuel like oil and gas. Fossil fuels are all formed out of organic matter deposited, decomposed and compressed, storing all the carbon involved under the earth's surface for millions of years.
Today, many rely on fossil fuels to help with daily necessities such as delivering electricity, powering vehicles, and heating their homes. Fossil fuels have been widely used since the Industrial Revolution. Since then, the use of fossil fuels has greatly grown. Fossil fuels are any naturally occurring carbon-containing material that, when burned with air produce heat or energy that can be converted into liquid fuels and other hydrocarbon (carbon bonded to hydrogen) products (Speight, James). There are three main types of fossil fuels which can all be used for energy delivery: coal, oil, and natural gas. In 2012, fossil fuels made up about 87% of the world’s primary energy consumption. The most consumed fossil fuel was oil. Oil was consumed
As known, fossil fuels are an organic material created from dead organisms and the remains of flora and fauna within the Earth’s crust. Coal was created from dead trees and other plant materials whereas crude oil and gas were created from dead marine organisms called plankton that were exposed to huge pressure and heat deep within the planet for over millions and millions of years. From about the year
Coal is one the fossil fuels in this world. There are four main types of coal. Anthracite, bituminous, sub bituminous, and lignite. Anthracite has 86-97% carbon. It accounts for 0.5% of the coal mined here in the United States. All the mines that have Anthracite in it are located in North-eastern Pennsylvania. (New Century Coal, 2013)
Coal is a fossil fuel along oil and gas. They all contain hydrogen and carbon, also known as hydrocarbons. Their Group name derives from them being formed in the Earth’s crust millions of years ago. This fossil fuels come from deep underground, throughout centuries when Pre-historic
This paper will discuss the three main fossil fuels which are oil, coal, and natural gas. This research shows how the fossil fuels are formed, where they could be found, and explain how they were formed over millions of years. This paper will show the numerous advantages of fossil fuels compared to the disadvantages and how they are hurting the Earth. Fossils fuels are critical to the function of everyday life. The world would be a different if fossil fuels and their uses were not to of use.
Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, primarily coal, fuel oil or natural gas created from the decade of dead plants and animals. Fossil fuels are formed through the natural process. So they are considered as un-renewable resources because the formation of fossil fuels may take millions of years and the feasible reserves are being run-down much faster than new ones are being made. The use of fossil fuel was started in the industrial revolution with the invention of the steam engine. All fired power stations like nuclear, coal, gas and oil are still working on the same principle of the steam engine. Still, fossil fuels are controlling to change the structure of our global economy. After the invention of the steam engine by James Watt (1769) brought widely increased the energy efficiency. After this invention, the use of fossil fuels is increased rapidly. This helps to give a