Table of Contents Introduction 2 Problem 2 Current Usage…………………………………………………………………………………...2 Petroleum 3 Coal 3 Natural Gas 4 Nuclear 5 Alternatives 5 Hydropower 5 Solar Power 7 Wind Energy 8 Geothermal Energy 9 Biofules 11 Conclusions 12 Best Choices 12 Implications 13
Works Cited……..……………………………………………………………………………….14
Introduction
Problem
An energy crisis is a situation in which a nation suffers from a disruption of energy supplies connected by increasing energy prices that threaten economic and national security. At the moment, there is an increasing worldwide demand for electrical power and transportation, both which depend mostly on fossil fuels, such as oil products. Because the population and new technology is
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Coal is used to create almost half of all electricity generated in the United States. Coal is mostly found in three large regions in the United States; the Appalachian Coal Region, the Interior Coal Region, and Western Coal Region. More than one-third of the coal produced in the United States comes from the Appalachian Coal Region. It is impossible to know exactly how much coal there is, because it is buried underground. “Based on U.S. coal consumption for 2008, the U.S. recoverable coal reserves represent enough coal to last 234 years”(So How Much Coal is there?) Coal provides 26% of global primary energy needs and generates 41% of the world's electricity, according to the World Coal Institute (Coal Reserves, Coal Exploration - World Coal Institute).
Natural gas
Natural gas is formed from animals and plants that lived millions of years ago when heat and pressure turned decayed matter into crude oil. Natural gas is usually found near petroleum. Oil is then transported to refineries and distilled into fuel or base chemical products. Natural gas is pumped from below ground and travels in pipelines to storage areas. Natural gas is used to make steel, glass, paper, clothing, brick, electricity and also as an essential raw material for many daily products. Some products that use natural gas as a raw material are paints, plastics, dyes, photographic film, medicines, and
In the United States, 42 percent of the nation’s electricity is generated by burning coal as coal is cheap and plentiful.
Mother Nature gave us natural resources to patronize and natural gas is one of them. Small quantities of ethane, propane, butane and pentane are found in the natural gas composition but it is mostly made up of methane. The high volume of pipeline gas makes it difficult for it to be transported in its gaseous form. This is the reason why the oil industry is dominating because of how easy it can be transported. Pipelines are suitable for transporting pipeline natural gas but constructing the suitable infrastructure is very expensive and not technically feasible for global transportation.1 In addition, for you to be able to make it in the gas industry you need trading partners to buy your natural gas. Having said that, one can deduce that the only way to make a
When I go to my home where I grew up it is all electrical produced and the main producer of that electricity is from coal a fossil fuel. In that area coal is one of the primary exports of that area. (Administration,
The development of science and technology has led to people considering using alternative fuels to generate electricity. There are many alternative fuels that can generate electricity, such as natural gas, nuclear energy, wind energy, hydraulic power and so on (Fossil Fuels Used to Generate Electricity Power Plant Emissions of North America). According to the statistics by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2009, the usage of coal was still the largest source to generate the power. Sources of electricity in the United States were generated by 44.9% of coal, 20.3% of nuclear, 23.4% of natural gas, 1% of petroleum, 6.9% of hydroelectric conventional and 3.6% of others (Electric Power Monthly with Data for February 2014). Coal
At the beginning of the year the President of the United States announced that the United States was in the middle of a nation wide energy crisis. The President gave many solutions including using more solar and wind energy, nuclear power, and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The President told the American people that they would have to watch their energy use and conserve as much as possible. Gas prices reached $2 per gallon in the Midwest for the second straight summer, and California continued to be hit by unprecedented power woes that forced rolling blackouts. The price of crude oil rose sharply, from around $10 a barrel to a peak of $37. The
The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago. When an area is to be mined, topsoil and subsoil are removed from the rock and so is another material, call overburden, to expose the bed of coal. All living plants give solar energy through photosynthesis. When plants die the energy gets out as the plants decay. The whole decaying process gets interrupted which prevents the release of the stored solar energy, then the energy stays locked in the coal. The plant material gets subjected to high temperatures and pressures which causes physical and chemical changes in the vegetation, transforming it into peat and then into coal. The formation of peat is the first step in the geological formation of fossil fuels such as coal. Peat plants is not only the first step for formation but they also capture CO2 itself. There are many effect to the environment when it comes to coal; an example is AMD which stands for Acid mine drainage; it includes the outflow of acidic water from coal mines or metal mines. Mines exposed rocks containing pyrite which reacts to water and air to form acid and dissolved iron and can easily wash into rivers and streams. Coal is a huge impact when it comes to hurting our
Western Virginia and the Appalachian Plateau have an abundance of coal in their land. Mostly it is from million year old decomposed plant materials that have created 76 distance coal beds; about half of these are currently being commercially mined. Two fifths of the coal produced in VA is exported out of state. The remaining coal is used to produce energy in local coal burning power plants. Locally sourced coal makes up a little bit over 37% percent of all of Virginia’s power (Sites, 2014).
Natural gas also comes from marine organisms which accumulate as organic sediment in oceans or inland seas. Over long periods of time, the organic matter was covered by sediment and more sediment. The action of anaerobic bacteria, and the increasing temperature and pressure of being compacted and great depths turned organic material into hydrocarbons.
In 2008 coal had a peak production. In 2016 coal was responsible for 15% of the United States energy consumption. That was a decrease from previous years. The amount of coal being produced now is the same amount as it was in 1977. Coal has been decreasing for the past few years because
Energy is a daily consumption that everybody uses in their daily lives. As a nation, we as modern people in the United States rely heavily upon energy sources such as oil, wind, thermal, natural, solar, hydraulic, etc. During the 70s, energy was a booming industry that everybody wanted to be a part of. This industry affected people 's way of living and everyday use of technology such as house appliances, automobiles, industry, and city power grids. During this era, an energy crisis occurred which had a big impact on many people nationally and internationally. This energy crisis was the result of the production peak in the 1970s, the oil crisis of 1973, and the energy crisis of 1979.
The United States (U.S.) gets 84% of its total energy from oil, coal, and natural gas, all of which are fossil fuels ("Fossil Fuels.") And in 2008, 49% of U.S. electricity came from just coal. This is largely due to the abundant supply of coal in the U.S., and it is a relatively inexpensive energy source. However, what are the costs of
Natural gas is a fossil fuel trapped in between rocks and water bodies underground. Natural gas is formed underground from the deposit of organic matter over millions of years. Natural gas from the release of energy trapped in plants and animals. Plants and animals store energy from the sun in the form of carbon in the molecules of the plant or an animal. Once the plants and animals die they release energy from the accumulation of matter and heat. The varying amount of heat and pressure from the different types of biomass results in the formation of different fossils fuels and gas. Fossil fuels and gas move in between the rocks where they are trapped before extraction (Curtis
There are several types of ways natural gas is used to generate electricity. The most basic of which is to use it to boil water to make steam and that steam then turns a turbine. While this style of power generation is more akin to coal burning and nuclear facilities, this type of system can be powered by natural gas. However, as simple as this form of generation might be, it is also fairly inefficient. Only about 33-35% of heat energy generated by burning the natural gas is able to be used to generate electricity. A different way of using heat and pressure to produce electricity is to turn the turbine with the burning natural gas itself in a combustion engine. This method can also be done with oil in a very similar fashion. They do not use a regular four stroke piston setup like your car engine does.
Natural gas is a mixture of Hydrocarbon gases that form with a petroleum deposit. A hydrocarbon is a compound that’s mostly made up of Hydrogen and Carbon. Natural gas is methane together with some of ethane, propane, butane, and other gases, Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and Ethane is colorless and odorless. Natural gas is used as fuel and in the making of organic compounds. Natural gas is also highly flammable. (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2009)
Natural gas is naturally occurring in the earth's surface. Its chemical consist is dominantly methane, carbon and hydrogen atoms, also contains a small amount of gaseous hydrocarbon gases and non-hydrogen gases. Consumption of natural gas is for fuel and we produce materials and chemicals. Raw natural gas is odorless, so companies that supply natural gas are adding artificial smell, like rotten egg, to let people know the presence of gas. The formation of the natural gas is the same as petroleum or oil.