Energy Resources
- Fossil fuels: oil and coal are made of organisms that lived a long time ago. Burning fossil fuels has the same effects as burning plants.
- non-renewable resources: resources that take long to be replaced relative to the human life span
- download 2020 key world energy statistics published by the International Energy Agency
- petroleum is made of plankton, i.e. it formed in ancient oceans (see also page on energy resources)
- petroleum is raw material for many chemical products, including solvents, fertilizers, pesticides and plastics
- 84% (37 out of 42 gallons in a typical barrel) of petroleum is processed as fuel, incl. gasoline, diesel and kerosene
- at the current rate of consumption, oil reserves will be depleted within a few decades
- in the U.S., total energy consumption has increased until about 2000 to 98.59 quadrillion British thermal units (qBtu); since then, increase has slowed
- in the U.S., the lowest recent total energy consumption occurred in 2009 with 93.94 qBtu
- in the U.S., total energy consumption has increased between 2000 and 2018 to 101.13 qBtu (2.6%).
| Energy Resource | Fraction 1997 | Fraction 2002 | Fraction 2012(10) | Fraction 2018(11) | Fraction 2019(12) |
| Petroleum | 41% | 41% | 36% | 36% | 37% |
| Natural Gas | 24% | 22% | 27% | 31% | 32% |
| Coal | 22% | 24% | 18% | 13% | 11% |
| Nuclear | 7% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 8% |
| renewable total | 9% | 11%* | 11%* | ||
| Hydroelectric | 5% | 3% | |||
| others | 1% | 1% |
* 2018 renewable totals as follows: 23% hydroelectric; 45% biomass (20% wood; 20% biofuels; 4% biomass waste); 22% wind; 8% solar; 2% geothermal
* 2019 renewable totals as follows: 22% hydroelectric; 43% biomass (20% wood; 20% biofuels; 4% biomass waste); 24% wind; 9% solar; 2% geothermal
| Sector | Fraction 2012 | Fraction 2018 |
| Transportation | 28% | 28% |
| Industrial | 22% | 23% |
| Residential and Commercial | 10% | 11% |
| Electric Power | 40% | 38% |
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FUN FACT: In January 2020, the energy portfolio of San Diego's energy company SDG&E included 45% renewable energy. (13) |
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FUN FACT: A big argument against big wind turbines has been that it kills birds. The Sierra Club reports in its Nov/Dec 2020 edition of Sierra that painting one of a turbine's three blades black can reduce the bird strike rate by over 70%. |
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FUN FACT: An article in the 1 July 2023 issue of Science News featured the production and potential capacities of geothermal energy in Africa. At the date of the article, Kenya was #7 in the world among geothermal energy producers. Perhaps surprisingly, Iceland produces less geothermal energy than Kenya. |
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- industrialized societies today rely primarily on oil and natural gas for their energy needs
- Oil and gas are hydrocarbons, ring or chainlike molecules of C and H, and are organic chemicals
- Hydrocarbons have varying viscosity and the volatility depends on the molecule size
- form primarily from dead algae and plankton
- require a long (geologic times) process to form, involving burial and increase in T and P
- oil window: oil and natural gas exist only under certain T and P conditions. At T>160oC, any remaining oil breaks down to form gas and at T>250o the remaining organic matter transforms into graphite. Under normal conditions, oil exists at depths only down to 6.5km.
- oil reserves: oil can be found in sedimentary deposits. Large oil fields can be found in the Canadian Arctic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Kara Sea/Northern Russia and the Persian Gulf (largest oil fields)
- Huge natural gas reserves can be found in Siberia (1/3 of the world's reserves)
- Two oil reserves that are very important U.S. domestic resources are the Gulf of Mexico and off-shore Alaska. The latter currently provides up to 20% of U.S. domestic oil and there are plans to expand oil production into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ( see more).
- in 2018: the U.S. petroleum consumption was 20.5 Mio barrels per day (1 barrel = 42 Gallons), the world consumed 97 Mio barrels per day; so the U.S. used about 21% of the world's produced oil (and contributing 21% of the world's CO2 production; down from about 25% before 2008)
- In the 1970ies, when the U.S. oil production passed its peak (Hubbert's Peak), the U.S. lost its position as largest world producer
- U.S. (cheap) oil reserves account for only 4% of the world's reserves
- in 2000 the U.S. had to import more than 50% of its used oil.
- in 2005, the gap between consumption and production of energy was the greatest and has since declined (100 vs 70 qBtu in 2005 and 101 vs 96 in 2018)
- a similar gap existed between imports and exports (34.7 vs 4.5 qBtu in 2005 and 24.8 vs 21.2 qBtu in 2018)
- The world consumption exceeds the rate of discovery of oil (by factor 3)
- at the current rate of consumption, known oil resources will be depleted within a few decades
- predictions place Hubbert's Peak of world oil production around 2005 (it indeed peaked in 2005)
- natural gas is more abundant than oil
- Gas burns more cleanly than oil. Burning gas produces only CO2 (the least amount of C of all fossil fuels) and water, while burning oil produces more complex organic pollutants.
- Gas transportation requires expensive high-pressure pipelines and containers making gas less attractive as energy source than oil
- Coal forms from plant material (wood, stems, leaves) in swamps and adjacent forests
- Most coal was formed in the late Carboniferous and Permian Periods (320-245 Mio years ago) when the continents were locked together to form Pangaea
- Coal is the most polluting fossil fuel but reserves will last 3 times as long as the oil reserves (300 years).
- as of 2000, The U.S. burned 1 Billion tons of coal per year, mostly at electrical power plants that generated ~23% of U.S. electricity (as of 2000)
- the absolute and relative contribution to energy generation from coal has since declined: from 22.6 quadrillion British thermal units (qBtu) (23%) in 2000 to 13.2 qBtu (13%) in 2018
- classification of coal:
- Peat: 50% Carbon (C); not yet coal
- Lignite: from peat (soft dark-brown coal) (70% carbon)
- Bituminous Coal: from lignite at higher T (100-200oC) (85% C)
- Anthracite Coal: from bituminous coal at even higher T (200-300oC); formed at 8-10 km depth (95% C); burns most efficiently and clean
- Graphite: at even higher T and P
- anthracite coalis the rarest type of coal. In the US, it is found at two places in Pennsylvania and Arizona
- More than half of the world's coal can be found in the United States and Former Soviet Union.
| Country | Fraction |
| United States | 28% |
| Former Soviet Union | 26% |
| China | 11% |
| Western Europe | 10% |
| Australia | 10% |
| Eastern Europe | 6% |
| other | 9% |
The Carbon Footprint
- the net amount of greenhouse gases (amount emitted minus amount consumed) a process, product or entity releases to the environment
- serves as a measure to estimate the net contribution of a process or production to global warming
- a carbon-neutral process produced as much greenhouse gases as it consumes
- electricity-generating companies adding renewable energy to their portfolio
- some airlines offer a surcharge to customers that goes toward regrowing rainforest to reduce the carbon footprint of an airline passenger
- the carbon footprint of individually bottled water is much higher than that of tap drinking water (transportation!)
Cap and Trade
- a central authority (state or country) sets emission limits (cap) on emission
- a company can buy permits (carbon credits) for higher emissions
- the total number of carbon credits cannot exceed the cap
- companies with higher emissions must buy credits from company with lower emissions, so that total cap is not exceeded (trade)
- in theory, this should reduce the pollution at the lowest cost to society, as companies who can reduce their emission cheaply will do so
Fossil Consumption - Some Summary Numbers
- global energy demand doubled in last 30 years
- hydrocarbons now account for > 50% world's energy production
- fossil fuels account for nearly 80%
- U.S. oil production peaked in 1970ies
- U.S. has to import 50% of its oil
- peak in global oil production by 2005
- oil consumption now exceeds rate of discovery by factor 3
Burning of Fossil Fuels: Summary
- There are basically four problems with a fossil fuel-based society like ours:
- hydrocarbons, such as oil, are non-renewable:
- oil reserves exhausted within 50 years
- gas reserves probably within 100 years
- coal reserves probably within 300 years
- burning fossil fuels pollutes the environment (gas burns "cleaner" but still pollutes)
- burning fossil fuels accelerates the greenhouse effect
- burning coal and gasoline combustion cause acid rain
Nuclear Power
- Nuclear power is considered an immense energy source because a tiny amount of matter transforms into a great amount of thermal energy; it is nevertheless non-renewable because the uranium ore from which fuel rods are made formed a long time ago
- nuclear power is considered as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels because it does not produce green house gases
- at current estimates nuclear fuel reserves will last about three times as long as oil reserves (about 300 years)
- Uranium is the only naturally occurring element that undergoes fission and is the last of the 92 naturally occurring elements. Uranium occurs naturally in granitic plutons
- Most of the naturally occurring Uranium is the relatively stable isotope 238U (half life: 4.5 Billion years), while the unstable 235U used in nuclear reactors accounts for only 0.7%
- Uranium enrichment for fuel rods requires energy
- by-products of uranium production, use and reprocessing produces Cesium (Cs) and Strontium (Sr) that can be absorbed by human tissue and do damage. Another by-product is Plutonium (Pu), which is weapons material and the most toxic element on earth. Pu also has a long-half life (24,000 years), i.e. stays around for a long time.
- a nuclear bomb requires only a few km of weapons-grade material. The world currently stockpiles more than 1000 tons.
- the three main disadvantages in nuclear power
- long half life of nuclear waste requires politically and geologically safe storage
- accidents contaminate the environment for a long time (e.g. after the 1986 explosion in Chernobyl, the area around the reactor is still uninhabitable)
- civil security is at risk by terrorist attacks
Burning of Fossil Fuels: Action is Needed NOW - Some Suggestions
- temporary transition to "cleaner burning" natural gas instead of oil and coal is ok as short-term solution, but only as that
- nuclear power is not fossil fuel but non-renewable; burns "clean" but poses waste disposal, accident and public security problems; and it has a carbon foot print!
- "traditional" alternative/renewable energy (incl. hydroelectric power, geothermal, solar, wind, biomass burning) each have disadvantages, the most serious being that they cannot replace the massive amount of energy produced by fossil fuels
- "modern" alternate energy (incl. fuel cells, hydrogen-based society, fusion) is in its infancy; some of which may never be realized
- more efficient use of energy: more fuel-efficient cars; technically feasible but repeatedly discouraged by oil-industry, especially in U.S.; replace incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent tubes; more energy-efficient household appliances; turn computer off instead of putting it in sleep mode
- societal changes/conservation
- U.S.: yes to energy-independence but costly and hazardous oil shale production is not the right way!
Metallic Resources
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Metallic resources come in native form and as ore.
- some metals are not found in native form, e.g. iron
- a rock qualifies as an ore, if:
- the metal content is high
- and the process to extract this metal is cost-effective
- base metals: e.g. copper, iron, lead, zinc, tin
- precious metals: e.g. gold, silver, platinum
- of the 63 metals in use today, only 9 were known before 1700 (Gold, Silver, Copper, Mercury, Lead, Tin, Antimon, Iron, Arsenic), typically the metals found in native form
Native metals are easy to mine because they occur in pure form (e.g. gold nuggets, copper lumps). Examples for native metals: gold, copper, silver
In ores the metals occur in metallic compounds such as oxides. The extraction of the metals require elaborate techniques that use high temperature smelting (e.g. iron ore) or toxic chemicals (e.g. need mercury for some gold compounds) to extract the metal from the compound.
Many metals are not found in native form, e.g. iron.
dependent on the market value we distinguish between base and precious metals:
Non-Metallic Mineral Resources
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E.g. building stone, gravel, sand, gypsum, phosphate (for fertilizer), salt.
- dimension stone: intact slabs and blocks of rock (e.g. granite or marble) cut out in a quarry (a quarry provides stone, a mine provides ore).
- crushed stone: for concrete, cement and asphalt.
- cement forms by precipitation of minerals out of slurry of water, lime (CaO) (66%), silica (SiO2) (25%), alumimun oxide (Al2O3) and iron oxide (Fe2O3).
CaO comes from the calcite in limestone that is roasted in a furnace at high temperature. The other elements come from shale and sandstone. Concrete is a mixture of cement with sand and gravel. Bricks are made from dried and bakes clay (this process is a metamorphic process that recrystallize the clay and make it relatively impermeable). Glass comes from the melting of quartz and quartz sand. Drywall is made from a slurry of water and gypsum (CaSO4.H2O); asbestos is made from serpentine; plastics from oil; fertilizers such as phophate (PO43-) and potash (K2CO3) come from evaporites.
Global Mineral Needs and Reserves
- Mineral resources are non-renewable resources (i.e. the lifetime is limited). Combined with energy resources, the U.S. mine, quarry and pump 18 billion tons/year. For comparison, the Mississippi transports 190 million tons of sediments into the Gulf of Mexico.
- How Much Do We Need? In "Physical Geology", Carlson et al., refer to the Mineral Information Intitute to estimate per capita/year needs in the U.S.:
- 18,000 kg total are mined, not including energy resources
- 4,400 kg stone
- 3,500 kg sand and gravel
- 325 kg limestone for cement
- 160 kg clays
- 165 kg salt
- 760 kg other nonmetals
- 545 kg iron
- 19 kg aluminum
- 9 kg copper
- 5 kg lead
- 5 kg zinc
- 3 kg manganese
- 11 kg other metals for comparison, some numbers for energy resources6:
- 3050 kg petroleum
- 2650 kg coal
- 1900 kg natural gas
The Dependence on Importing Minerals
- 99% of gemstones are imported (e.g. from Israel, Belgium and India)
- Strategic metals: metals that are alloyed with iron to make special-purpose steels needed in the aerospace industry; many need to be imported6: e.g. manganese (100%), cobalt (95%), chromium (73%) and platinum (92%).
- many other raw materials are 100% imported
| metal | Metal's Origin |
| arsenic trioxide | China, Chile, Mexico |
| bauxite and alumina | Australia, Jamaica, Brazil |
| bismuth | Belgium, Mexico, China |
| strontium | Mexico, Germany |
| thallium | Mexico, Belgium, Germany |
| thorium | UK, France |
| metal | World Resources | U.S. Resources |
| Iron | 120 | 40 |
| Aluminum | 330 | 2 |
| Copper | 65 | 40 |
| Lead | 20 | 40 |
| Zinc | 30 | 25 |
| Gold | 30 | 20 |
| Platinum | 45 | 1 |
| Nickel | 75 | <1 |
| Cobalt | 50 | <1 |
| Manganese | 70 | 0 |
| Chromium | 75 | 0 |
THE BOTTOM LINE: mineral resources are non-renewable and many global resources will last a few more decades. The U.S. has to import large fractions of the metals used.
Recycling
- Estimates in the 1960ies and 1970ies predicted a shortfall of available minerals. But mineral consumption has slowed in the meantime and current estimates predict that resources will last about 100 years. The rate of mineral consumption has slowed especially in industrialized nations due to a shift of economics from construction and manufacturing to service and technology. The demand for raw minerals has decreased because of recycling and substitution by low-cost ceramics, composites and plastics.
| Fraction of Recycled Metals | |
| Metal | Fraction |
| Au (Gold) | 45% |
| Pt (Platinum) | 45% |
| Al (Aluminum) | 45% |
| Pb (Lead) | 73% |
| Cu (Copper) | 60% |
| Fe (Iron), Steel | 56% |
- Issues that determine whether a mineral is to be recycled or not: costs, environmental impact, availability.
- Flourescent Light Bulbs and Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL) Disposal is problematic because such bulbs contain mercury (Hg) vapor. The amount of Hg varies between 3 and 46 mg. A typical 2006-era 4-ft tube contains about 12 mg, CFLs that use 25-40 W of electricity have about 6 mg or less. Users are supposed to bring old CFL and fluorescent tubes to a recycling center (or hazardous waste disposal place. The San Diego/Miramar landfill is said to collect bulbs but only quantities that are consistent with "single household usage". Home Depot is said to have just started a take-back program.
Plastic 2
- made from oil; many different kinds (e.g. from clear plastic bottles to styrofoam)
- plastics are durable, lightweight, and can be made into virtually anything
- plastics are not biodegradeable
- only 3.5% of plastics are recycled in any way
- in the U.S., 63 pounds of plastic packaging goes into landfills per person per year
- broken, degraded plastic pieces outweigh surface zooplankton in the Central North Pacific by 6 to 1
- 1869: John Wesley Hyatt invents celluloid, the first plastic product given a trade name
- 1909: Bakelite introduced as the "first thermoset plastic" (once set it is set for life)
- 1939:Nylon stockings debut at the World's Fair
- 1946: Earl S. Tupper produced a 7-ounce polyethylene tumbler, the first Tupperware product
- 1955: the Corvette is the first car to use plastic for body panels
- 1957: the Hula Hoop creates a surge in demand for polyehtylene
- 1983: microwave ovens open up a new market for plastic packaging
- 2000: in the U.S., pre-production plastics reaches 100 billion pounds of virgin resin pellets per year
SOME PLASTIC MILESTONES
Recommended Reading
- "Coal" by Barbara Freese, 2004, Penguin Books, ISBN: 01-42000981:a good book on coal, its history and how it changed mankind
References
- (1)"The Penguin State of the World Atlas" by Dan Smith, 2003. Penguin Books, ISBN: 0-14.200318-2
- (2)Flyer from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation
- (3)United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) web site
- 4"State of the World 2003" by Chris Bright et al., 2003, The Worldwatch Institute, Norton & Company, ISBN: 0-393-32386-2
- 5"State of the World 2004" by Erik Assadourian et al., 2004, The Worldwatch Institute, Norton & Company, ISBN: 0-393-32539-3
- 6Earth, Portrait of a Planet, 2001. Stephen Marshak, Norton & Company Ltd., New York, ISBN: 0-393-97423-5
- 7Earth, An Introduction to Physical Geology, 2005. E.J. Tarbuck and F.K. Lutgens, 8th ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J., ISBN: 0-13-114865-6
- 8"Earthshock" by Andrew Robinson, 1993, Thames and Hudson, ISBN: 0-500-27738-9
- 9 Wikipedia web page on petroleum
- 10 U.S. Energy Information Administration Energy in Brief (accessed 2012)
- 11 U.S. Energy Information Administration Energy in Brief (accessed 2018)
- 12 U.S. Energy Information Administration Energy in Brief (accessed 2019)
- 13 attachment to 2020 SDG&E residential energy bill
- 14 Kamadi, G., "Africa's Geothermal Hot Spot" 2023, Science News, 1 July issue; online update 12 July; link here
APPENDIX A: The Special Role of Traffic
- transportation takes up 1/3 of the world's energy consumption
- transportation is responsible for almost half of the pollution produced
- finding alternatives current transportation is therefore essential!
- public transportation effective alternative in densely populated areas
- cars need to be made more fuel efficient (technology exists since the 1980s!)
- finding alternatives is crucial. Hybrid-automobiles and biodiesel are only temporary alternatives as hybrid cars still use fossil fuels and biodiesels contribute to greenhouse effect
APPENDIX B: Where do Metallic Resources Come From?
- magmatic deposits: bottom of a magma chamber
- hydrothermal deposits: circulation of hot-water solutions
- disseminated deposit: deposit throughout an intrusion
- vein deposit: deposit in a preexisting crack
- copper porphyry deposit: copper in a two-stage melted igneous rock
- black smoker: precipitated nearly pure metal sulfides around black smokers
- secondary-enrichment deposits: transport and re-deposition of ore minerals, typically at higher concentrations
- sedimentary deposits: for example
- banded-iron formation (BIF) in deep ocean, when environment suddenly became oxygen-rich
- manganese nodules (manganese-oxide, typically about 10 cm diameter) on the ocean floor. Rich in manganese and copper (20% Mn + Fe, Cu, Ni). Technology to mine vast deposits underway (e.g. copper supply would last 720 years).
- residual mineral deposits:tropical environments, iron and aluminum-rich soil residuum in the soil as consequence of severe leaching (E.g. bauxite is a aluminum-bearing residual from extreme leaching of granite).
- placer deposits: native metals eroded from original deposit and settled as flakes in rivers (recovery similar to what happens during panning).
APPENDIX C: Resource Exploration and Production
- in the past, prospectors looked for "shows" of ore (exposures of ore
minerals at the surface). They looked out for quartz veins or stained rock (green or red by oxidizing metal-containing minerals).
Today's geologists look at tectonic settings and measure the magnetic and gravity fields to find ore bodies (they are typically denser and more magnetic than ordinary rock).
- open-pit mines: explosions separate blocks from bedrock; waste rock is separated from ore and brought to a "tailings pile". The ore is crushed, ore minerals extracted and smelted or treated with acidic solutions to separate the metal. The metal is then melted and poured into molds to make ingots (brick-shaped blocks).
- underground mines: drive vertical shafts and horizontal adits into the ore-bearing rock. The deepest mine currently reaches 3.5 km where the temperature exceeds 55oC.
APPENDIX D: Mining and the Environment
- open-pit mining leaves landscape scars
- mining leaves waste rock in tailings piles (artificial hills)
- acid mine runoff (sulfides released in ore-mining)
- smelting in ore-processing creates acidic air and rain
Additional Resources
not-for-credit online quiz for practice testing (do not request edit access!)
Five Random Review Questions (not a complete review!)
- coal
- oil
- natural gas
- nuclear power
- wind
- nuclear
- solar
- hydro-electric
- 100%
- 85%
- 50%
- 15%
- 1000s of years
- 100s of years
- 10s of years
- forever
- aluminum
- paper
- lead
- copper
- plastic
- plant material
- plankton
- fish bones
- dinosaur fossils
- wood
Answers: 1d; 2b; 3b; 4c; 5e; 6b