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 Fossil Fuels and Alternative Energy By: Anna Kate and William toc

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Fossil Fuels:What are they and what are the issues?
//Fossil fuels// are mostly hydrocarbons either in the form of coal, petroleum or natural gas. These are created through the remains of dead matter of plants and animals. In the 20th and 21st centuries with growing modernization, the need for energy from fossil fuels has increased since the past years. Gasoline made from oil, is one of the many causes of regional and global conflicts. A world wide movement towards the creation of renewable energy is underway to meet the increased global energy needs. With all the burning of fossil fuels, emissions of carbon dioxide are increasing along with the demand of oil. //Carbon dioxide// is bad for the environment because it is a greenhouse gas that allows radiative forcing and causes the theory of global warming. Small portions of the fuels are biofuels. This is the one of the few good things that came out of this issue. //Biofuels// are derived from //atmospheric carbon dioxide//, and therefore does not cause the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The Combustion of Fossil Fuels In Vehicles
The combustion of fossil fuels in cars and other engines is the has been around since the engine was invented. The engine may have been greatly modified from its original form but the simple idea that by burning something and creating heat and pressure you can create the energy needed to move something. This engine idea is merely the first halfway decent thing that came allong when cars were starting to replaces horses for traveling. Since then improvements have been made such as creating two stroke and four stroke engines. (Stroke number is determined by the number of pistons) This way of making wheels turn and other things run was brilliant back in 1910 but today it is outdated. Wouldnt it be easier to create a simple, more efficent, cleaner, engine to run our vehicles?

The Source of Fossil Fuels
Arctic: It is thought that almost one fourth of the earths oil reserves left are concentrated underneath the ice in the north pole. All countries with even the sightest reason to claim a part of these rich fields is clamoring for space. The most aggresive being russia followed by the US and Canada. Not to mention Norway, Denmark(Greenland), Finland, Sweden, Iceland, and any country that has any kind of border on the Arctic Ocean. Russia: Controls large oil fields throught its massive holdings.Chechenya for example. It also has control of almost all of west Europe's oil. Last year it played with the tap just to let everyone know it is still a superpower. Former Soviet Union Countries: Many Contain large oil fields recently discovered. Many of the "stans" contain oil though it is not as well exploited as it could be due to the political instability there. Middle East: This area contains most of the worlds known oil reserves. USA: Offshore Drilling:

America and the Middle East
 Dates are Saudi Arabia's second largest export [|America's Oil Imports]

Saudi Arabia is the largest oil producer in the world. It also has the largest amount of proven reserves by a long shot. It has more than five times the reserves of Russia and almost ten times more reserves than the U.S. However the number two and number three producers om the world for oil is Russia(2) and the US(3). Saudi Arabia has grown rich off of selling America oil. Without oil it would have the same GDP as Somalia or Sudan. The countries second largest export is dates.(the fruit) So why does 300 millon people use more fossil fuels than four billion people? The Saudi Government frequently helps mediate regional crises and supports the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. A charter member of the Arab League, Saudi Arabia supports the position that Israel must withdraw from the territories which it occupied in June 1967, as called for in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. Saudi Arabia supports a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict but rejected the Camp David accords, claiming that they would be unable to achieve a comprehensive political solution that would ensure Palestinian rights and adequately address the status of Jerusalem. Although Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic relations with and suspended aid to Egypt in the wake of Camp David, the two countries renewed formal ties in 1987. In March 2002, then-Crown Prince Abdallah offered a Middle East peace plan, now known as the Arab Peace Initiative, at the annual summit of the Arab League in which Arab governments would offer "normal relations and the security of Israel in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of Palestinian refugees." In March 2007 the Arab League reiterated its support for the Arab Peace Initiative by emphasizing that it could be the foundation for a broad Arab-Israeli peace. In November 2007, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal attended the Annapolis Conference, along with more than 50 representatives of concerned countries and international organizations. The Conference was convened to express the broad support of the international community for the Israeli and Palestinian leaders' courageous efforts and was a launching point for negotiations designed to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of Israeli-Palestinian peace.



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Ghawar-This is the worlds largest oil and natural gas field. []

[[image:oil.jpg width="96" height="96" align="right"]]
 Alternative energy sources have to be compared with oil in many different ways because of the popular demand for oil and considering the environment. Although there have been many inventions that take nature’s energy to use none have yet been as easy to use or as simple as oil. The problem only thing that is keeping our society from switching to renewable energy sources is the view by the babyboomer generation that is only looking at their own comfortable retirement. The generation that is in power now is thinking on a ten year horizon. Whats needed to save our planet from global warming is leaders who are looking seven generations down the road. Another issue standing in the way of a "Green" world is the demand target is a growing population. Eventually this truth has to be faced. Many of us think that, when we run out of energy, we can use other alternative fuels. Such statements are easy to make, but in reality, making this transition to alternative fuels is not simple or convenient. So, it is important that we use other forms of power like oil to be able to balance the wants and resources. Yet improvements have been made with the world’s oil intake. Renewable energy consumption decreased by about 1% between 2006 and 2007, contributing 7% of the Nation’s total energy demand, and 8.4% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2007.[|1]  Electricity producers[|2] consumed 51% of total U.S. renewable energy in 2007 for producing electricity.[|3] Most of the remaining 49% of renewable energy was biomass consumed for industrial applications (principally paper-making) by plants producing only heat and steam. Biomass is also used for transportation fuels (ethanol) and to provide residential and commercial space heating. The largest share of the renewable-generated electricity comes from hydroelectric energy (71%), followed by biomass (16%), wind (9%), geothermal (4%), and solar (0.2%).[|4] Wind-generated electricity increased by almost 21% in 2007 over 2006, more than any other energy source. Its growth rate was followed closely by solar, which increased by over 19% in 2007 over 2006.[|5]  Why We Don’t Use More Renewable Energy Renewable energy sources and generating technologies are environmentally benign compared with fossil fuel and nuclear technologies, but there are two main reasons why we don’t use more renewable energy.
 * Renewable Energy Plays a Role in the Nation’s Energy Supply (2007)**
 * Most Renewable Energy Goes to Producing Electricity**


 * 1) **Renewable Energy is Expensive and Capital-Intensive**: Renewable energy plants are generally more expensive to build and to operate than coal and natural gas plants. Recently, however, some wind-generating plants have proven to be economically feasible in areas with good wind resources, compared with other conventional technologies, when coupled with the Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit (described below).
 * 2) **Renewable Resources Are Often Geographically Remote**: The best renewable resources are often available only in remote areas, so building transmission lines to deliver power to large metropolitan areas is expensive.

How much energy will we consume in the future?
According to the American Energy Information Administration (EIA) and to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world-wide energy consumption will on average continue to increase by 2% per year. The graph below shows the actual values starting from 1980 until today in blue and the predictions of the energy consumption until the year 2030 in orange. A yearly increase by 2% leads to a doubling of the energy consumption every 35 years. This means the world-wide energy consumption is predicted to be twice as high in the year 2040 compared to today (2007).

More detailed data (in quadrillion BTU) of the **actual and predicted energy consumption world-wide by geographic area**: Eurasia ||= 48.5 ||= 56.5 ||= 62.8 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">68.7 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">74.0 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">79.0 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">1.8 ** || and South America ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">21.9 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">28.2 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">32.5 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">36.5 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">41.2 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">45.7 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">2.8 ** ||
 * ~ Region ||~ 2003 ||~ 2010 ||~ 2015 ||~ 2020 ||~ 2025 ||~ 2030 ||~ Average Annual Percent Change, 2003-2030 ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">OECD ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">234.3 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">256.1 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">269.9 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">281.6 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">294.5 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">308.8 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">1.0 ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">North America ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">118.3 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">131.4 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">139.9 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">148.4 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">157.0 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">166.2 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">1.3 ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Europe ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">78.9 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">84.4 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">87.2 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">88.7 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">91.3 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">94.5 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">0.7 ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Asia ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">37.1 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">40.3 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">42.8 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">44.4 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">46.1 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">48.0 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">1.0 ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Non-OECD ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">186.4 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">253.6 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">293.5 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">331.5 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">371.0 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">412.8 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">3.0 ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Europe and
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Europe and
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Asia ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">83.1 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">126.2 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">149.4 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">172.8 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">197.1 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">223.6 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">3.7 ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Middle East ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">19.6 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">25.0 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">28.2 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">31.2 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">34.3 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">37.7 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">2.4 ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Africa ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">13.3 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">17.7 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">20.5 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">22.3 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">24.3 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">26.8 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">2.6 ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Central
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Total World ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">420.7 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">509.7 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">563.4 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">613.0 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">665.4 ||= <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">721.6 ||= **<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">2.0 ** ||

The highest annual growth of energy consumption is predicted for Asia (3.7%), NON-OECD countries (3%) and Central and South America (2.8%). The lowest annual growth of energy consumption is predicted for Europe with 1%. from: http://timeforchange.org/prediction-of-energy-consumption

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Some examples of alternative energy are as follows: Go to this site to see many inventions around the world. http://ge.ecomagination.com/site/index.html?c_id=googaefeb5 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> Here is a video explaining why and how alternative energy is needed all over the world. Enjoy! media type="youtube" key="2cU-bVSAhw8" height="295" width="480" <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">

Benefits of building your own Wind Turbine media type="youtube" key="YSLBf3JkCmw" width="425" height="350"

media type="youtube" key="0phPIzY7DPA" height="344" width="425"

Sources