Fossil Fuels

Renewable v. Nonrenewable Renewable: can be replenished over fairly short time spans. (months, years) –Examples: a. Plants - such as trees and cotton and b. Animals What about…water, wind, sun?

Nonrenewable: takes millions of years to form and accumulate. Examples: Fossil Fuels, iron, copper, uranium…and other metals. (

Fossil Fuels Definition - : any hydrocarbon used for energy. Nearly 90% of energy used in the U.S. comes from fossil fuels

Types of Fossil fuels Coal Petroleum (oil) Shale Oil Tar sands Natural gas

COAL Coal : forms when heat and pressure transform plant material over millions of years. Primary use: generate electricity.

During the Carboniferous Period, from about 354 to 290 million years ago, Earth's climate was tropical and humid. Plant material buried in swamps formed rich coal deposits in what are now Europe, Asia, and North America.

STEP 1 - Peat: partially decayed plant material. (looks like soil) STEP 2 - Under great heat and pressure, the peat hardens. STEP 3 - It forms into a sedimentary or metamorphic rock called coal STEPS IN COAL FORMATION

TYPES OF COAL 1.Lignite – brown coal, burns very dirty 2.Sub-bituminous – more energy and cleaner 3.Bituminous – black, burns dirty, lots of sulfur 4.Anthracite – hard, black, cleaner than bituminous COAL MINES VIDEO 1COAL MINES VIDEO 1 (5:44) VIDEO 2VIDEO 2 (4:08)

Making Electricity from Coal (or oil or trees or …… Canadian VideoCanadian Video (2:12)

Making Electricity for your home Energy source (anything that burns) Boiler (Furnace) Water to create Steam to spin Turbine to spin Generator which creates current Transformer boosts voltage Power lines carry current

OIL Petroleum(crude oil) : forms from the remains of plants and animals (MOSTLY ZOOPLANKTON AND PHYTOPLANKTON) that were buried in ancient seas (oceans). –Formation: chemical reactions slowly transform remains into liquid (petroleum) and other hydrocarbons. –Get squeezed into oil traps with water. (How do we get the oil and gas when it’s mixed with water?)

Locating Oil Reserves

Extracting and Transporting Oil Drilling for Oil Drilling for Oil Video (5:30) Transported mainly by freighters pipeline rail car.

Refining Oil - uses Petroleum gas - used for heating, cooking, making plastics Gasoline - motor fuel Kerosene - fuel for jet engines and tractors; starting material for making other products Gas oil or Diesel distillate - used for diesel fuel and heating oil; Lubricating oil - used for motor oil, grease, other lubricants ental/energy/oil-refining2.htm

Other types of oil reserves Tar Sands Tar Sands: mixtures of clay & sand---with water & black tar (bitumen) Not common because… –Thicker than crude oil and harder to pump out. –Has to be heated and pressurized, then be refined of all it’s impurities. –This process produces ½ as much energy as the end product.

Other types of oil reserves Shale Oil Shale Oil: shale rock contains a waxy mixture of hydrocarbons. (kerogen) –The rock is heated to vaporize the kerogen. –It is refined and removed of all impurities. Becoming more common … –Energy is only 1/8 of crude oil. –More expensive to mine after it is refined. –Much “ dirtier ” than oil VIDEOVIDEO(28min)

Natural Gas consisting primarily of methanemethane found above coal beds and oil fieldscoal beds important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizersfertilizers Cleaner burning than coal or oil

Fracking Introduction video Problems Debate ****Debate Californians Against Fracking Debunking Anti-fracking video

PROS of Fossil Fuels 1. Well Developed Technology For Harnessing Energy 2. Reliable And Cheap ( for now )

CONS Fossil fuels will become more and more expensive to extract Extracting fuel will become more dangerous as the mines get deeper or the oil-rigs go further out to sea. Pollution from these fuels is said to be responsible for global warming, acid rain, and oil spillage very expensive to control the pollution and the price of fuel would have to rise.