Fossil Fuels2014

What are the fossil fuels?

Coal (solid)Oil (liquid)Natural Gas (gas) AKA – “non-renewables”

Not just for “energy”

Red sheet (on your desk) details some of the things made from fossil fuels (primarily oil)

Carbon Dioxide – pollutant?????Carbon Dioxide has a natural cycle and is a normal part of the environment. It would be unhealthy for life as we know it if there was not Carbon Dioxide in the environment.This being said 95+% of climate scientists think that we are changing the climate with our use of fossil fuels.

Carbon Dioxide – pollutant?????

It’s important to know that Carbon Dioxide is not the only global warming gas. It’s also important to know that the earth has gone through many cycles of warming and cooling.

Carbon Dioxide – pollutant?????

Bottom line is that there is a connection scientists have found between Carbon Dioxide levels and earth’s temperature. By humans taking solid, liquid and gas forms of carbon that are locked up underground and burning them (creating CO2) we have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the environment.

Carbon Dioxide – pollutant?????

“Global Warming” should actually be called “Global Wierding”. Strange weather events, here and throughout the world, should be making a point to an informed mind.

It is incredible to think that climate science has become political. How have we gotten to a point where government thinks it knows better than experts in the field? One thing is for sure - climate change can’t be changed by a vote denying it’s existence.

How were these fossil fuels made?

Most scientists believe that coal, oil and natural gas are a product of organic material being trapped underground for many millions of years. The organic mater changed into coal, oil, natural gas from pressure and heat (and time) or from the action of bacteria over time (the bacteria’s waste product would be the oil and natural gas)

Coal

Different Grades Anthracite Bituminous Lignite

These are just general grades - there are a variety of grades within each general grade

Coal is very effective at generating electricity cheaply – and there is a large supply both in the U.S. and worldwide. Probably 150+ years.

Oil

Different Grades Used in a variety of ways Incredibly important part of

transportation in the U.S. and worldwide.

Approx. 50 years left

Coal and Oil

Pros – cheap and easy

Cons – Very dirty - CO2, mercury, sulfur, lead, cadmium, arsenic

For example at an average coal electrical generating plant:3,700,000 tons CO210,000 tons SO2170 pounds mercury225 pounds arsenic114 pounds lead4 pounds cadmium

Natural Gas

Cleanest burning of the fossil fuels Contributes to increase in CO2 but

does not contribute significantly all the other pollution coal and oil emit. Approx. 50 years left.

Natural Gas –”Fracking”

Due to a new technique called “Fracking” we currently have an abundance of natural gas here in North America. There are some very positive things about fracking (contributes to America’s energy independence, makes cost to heat our houses much smaller and has made many people rich and provided jobs for many others) – There are also some very negative consequences to fracking (water tables are disrupted)

My Water's On Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song) – YouTube

CAN YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR TAP WATER? – YouTube

http://vimeo.com/44367635 - the sky is pink

Where do we go from here?

Right now our society is dependent upon fossil fuels. They are “non-renewable” so we need to plan for a time when they will be gone and supplement our energy usage with other sources that we will talk about in the next few days or find new sources of energy.

Questions:

If fossil fuels are going to run out and they hurt our environment when we use them – why don’t we stop using them as an energy source?

What is the government’s role in trying to phase out fossil fuel use and bring in our new energy future?

What can you do to consume less fossil fuels?

Day 2 – Keystone XL pipeline

How do you go about making a decision about whether you support the keystone xl pipeline or not?

-Do you evaluate it on it’s merits as its good for . . .You as an individual?Our country?Humanity in general?All the life on this planet?

Keystone continued: "Let us bring this all together. It is here proposed that each of the

greenhouse extinctions had a similar cause, and here we can summarize the sequential steps.

"First, the world warms over short intervals of time because of a sudden increase of carbon dioxide and methane, caused initially by the formation of vast volcanic provinces called flood basalts. The warmer world affects the ocean circulation systems and disrupts the position of the conveyor currents. Bottom waters begin to have warm, low-oxygen water dumped into them. Warming continues, and the decrease of equator-to-pole temperature differences reduces ocean winds and surface currents to a near standstill. Mixing of oxygenated surface waters with the deeper, and volumetrically increasing, low-oxygen bottom waters decreases, causing ever-shallower water to change from oxygenated to anoxic. Finally, the bottom water is at depths where light can penetrate, and the combination of low oxygen and light allows green sulfur bacteria to expand in numbers and fill the low-oxygen shallows. They live amid other bacteria that produce toxic amounts of hydrogen sulfide, and the flux of this gas into the atmosphere is as much as 2,000 times what it is today. The gas rises into the high atmosphere, where it breaks down the ozone layer, and the subsequent increase in ultraviolet radiation from the sun kills much of the photosynthetic green plant phytoplankton. On its way up into the sky, the hydrogen sulfide also kills some plant and animal life, and the combination of high heat and hydrogen sulfide creates a mass extinction on land. There are the greenhouse extinctions.

"The sequence of events outlined above can be considered a combined hypothesis for the cause of greenhouse extinctions and can be named the conveyer disruption hypothesis."-Peter Ward

Why would big energy want to transport oil to the gulf instead of building a new refinery where the crude oil is at?

So, how much oil is left?How long will the world's oil last? - Business - Oil & energy - msnbc.com

The Good The Bad

Keystone Pipeline: No Brainer - YouTube

Canada's Dirty Oil: breaking our addiction - YouTube