| Slide 4 of 20 |
| Fossil energies | ||||||
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| The standard of living of modern society are intimately related to energy consumption most of it being produced form nonrenewable fossil sources such as coal and petroleum. In 1956 King Hubbert (a research geologist for Shell Oil Company) accurately predicted a continuous decline in production of petroleum beginning in 1970 (figure below). It is expected that petroleum production will decline to near exhaustion by the year 2070. By that time coal is expected to replace petroleum as the main hydrocarbon resource. | ||||||
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| Coal and petroleum are fossil solar energy. Heat from the sun is converted into combustible carbon-rich substance by biological processes. These are subsequently buried by sediment and preserved.
Petroleum and natural gas are hydrocarbons (molecules composed only of hydrogen and carbon) generated by micro-organisms that once lived in the oceans or in large lakes. Their remains accumulated on the sea floor their rapid burial preventing complete decomposition. Pressure and heat transform the organic raw material into hydrocarbons that migrates through porous reservoir rocks until they meet impermeable cap rock and fault planes. Oil and gas are convenient forms of energy because they are easy to handle and transport. The problem is that there is less and less of them. |
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