Ashley R. Singer
Over the course of time plants, animals, and other living organisms leave behind their remains. These dead remains get covered over by rocks, dirt and mud. Pressure, heat and time change the once living organisms into fossil fuels. The most commonly used fuels are oil, coal and natural gas. Although fossil fuels are constantly being made, they are nonrenewable on our timescale. It takes millions of years for the dead plants and animals to turn into usable fuel.
Because it is the cheapest fossil fuel, coal is the most used and most abundant fossil fuel used globally. Coal is made up of dead plant material. When coal is burned, the less oxygen and hydrogen remaining in the coal, the more energy released. The three kinds of coal that are commonly formed are lignite, containing about 40 percent carbon, bituminous, containing up to 85 percent carbon, and anthracite, containing 90-95 percent carbon (MacDougal Litell, Earth Science p.149).
Oil is made up of mostly animal and microorganism remains with some plant material. The oil settles into porous rock, like limestone or sandstone and is sealed into the ground by non-porous rock creating oil traps. Oil deposits are often found with natural gas and the pressure of the natural gas on top of the oil helps to bring the oil up to the surface of the earth when it is carefully drilled.
Natural gas is made up of the same materials as oil but it is lighter and can be found in a pocket above oil. Natural gas is piped out of the ground whether it is found with oil or by itself. Natural gas is preferred by many because it is cheaper, and burns cleaner than oil. The reason more people don't use natural gas is because it needs to be piped directly into homes.
The amount of oil the earth is estimated to have took about 500 million years to form, and about a quarter of it is already gone. The United States of America has over 250 billion tons of coal, equivalent to 800 billion barrels of oil, which is more than three times Saudi Arabia's proven oil reserve (Nersesian p.90). Burning these fossil fuels is a very dirty process and emits large amounts of carbon dioxide. Many people refer to the amount of carbon dioxide he or she creates through all energy consumption as a carbon footprint.
Students will be asked to look at energy use data from each state in the United States of America. The data students are asked to analyze will include total residential use, which includes non-renewable resources, and hydroelectric power, geothermal power, wind power and solar power.
