Fossil Fuels

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-41
Author(s):  
Azra N. Tutuncu
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Different Types

While experts agree that some fossil fuels will be left in the ground due to economic costs, environmental risks, or political concerns, these resources are likely to remain the primary source of energy for generating electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation for the foreseeable future. This chapter provides an overview of the different types of fossil fuels and their histories, production and consumption trends, and future opportunities and challenges for the fossil fuel sector. Its purpose is to provide a technical background for social scientists working on energy issues.

scholarly journals How Long Can Neoliberalism Withstand Climate Crisis?

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Julius Alexander McGee ◽  
Patrick Trent Greiner
Keyword(s):  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Fossil Fuel Consumption ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Human Labor ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

The climate crisis is proving to be antithetical to the neoliberal machines that define current forms of social organization. Reducing fossil fuel consumption, the largest contributor to climate change, requires collaborative efforts. These efforts must take into consideration the foundational role of fossil fuels in modern economies. Yet, renewables lack many of the characteristics that have made fossil fuels so desirable in production processes, limiting their ability to expropriate human labor. At the same time, climate catastrophes, such as wildfires and hurricanes, disrupt the infrastructural momentum of fossil fuel economies, destabilizing the mechanisms of capital accumulation that derive from the production and consumption of these fuels. All of these problems have come to a head in the recent crises in Chile and California.

Analysis of Carbon Saving by the Adoption of Electric Vehicles in a Region Where Electricity Generation is Dominated by Thermal Power Plants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parakram Pyakurel ◽  
Filipe Quintal ◽  
James Auger ◽  
Julian Hanna
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Thermal Power Plants ◽  
Electrical Demand

One method of reducing atmospheric CO2 emissions in the transportation sector is the replacement of conventional fossil fuel-based vehicles with Electric Vehicles (EVs). However, fossil fuels are still the primary source of electricity production in many regions and the utilization of EVs in such regions increases the electricity demand because of battery charging. This results in increased burning of fossil fuels by thermal power plants and therefore can offset savings in CO2 emissions resulting from the adoption of EVs. In this paper, we consider a scenario where all fossil fuel-based conventional vehicles are replaced by EVs and then estimate the net CO2 emission savings resulting from the adoption of EVs in a region where electricity is primarily supplied by thermal plants. Only emissions generated during the operational phase of vehicle use are considered; emissions during the production phase are not considered. The region under consideration is Madeira, Portugal where thermal plants account for 80% of the total electricity produced. Our findings suggest that although EVs have huge potential to save CO2 emissions, a substantial amount of the savings can be offset due to the increased burning of fossil fuels by thermal plants to meet the electrical demand of charging batteries.

scholarly journals The Business of Climate Transformation

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (829) ◽  
pp. 307-312
Author(s):  
Peter Newell
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Carbon Trading ◽  
Investment Funds ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Carbon Neutral ◽  
Global Heating

Without deep transformations in the economy that go beyond incremental gains in decarbonization, we remain on course for catastrophic global heating. Some businesses have pledged to go carbon-neutral, carbon-trading schemes are expanding, and a growing divestment movement has pressured investment funds to shun fossil fuel producers. But financial forces are also part of the problem, still driving more production and consumption of fossil fuels. Achieving transformational shifts in finance, production, and governance calls for a more disruptive politics underpinned by shifts in power relations.

Energy After COVID

2020 ◽  
Vol 119 (820) ◽  
pp. 317-322
Author(s):  
Michael T. Klare
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Peak Oil ◽  
Business Travel ◽  
Reduce Energy Consumption ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Energy Companies

By transforming patterns of travel and work around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the transition to renewable energy and the decline of fossil fuels. Lockdowns brought car commuting and plane travel to a near halt, and the mass experiment in which white-collar employees have been working from home may permanently reduce energy consumption for business travel. Renewable energy and electric vehicles were already gaining market share before the pandemic. Under pressure from investors, major energy companies have started writing off fossil fuel reserves as stranded assets that are no longer worth the cost of extracting. These shifts may indicate that “peak oil demand” has arrived earlier than expected.

Legislation and the Constitutional Framework

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Civil Law ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
French Law ◽  
Major Overhaul ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Way

This chapter introduces the main constitutional institutions and mechanism governing France, taking into account the major overhaul of the 1958 Constitution in 2008. It also shows that legislation is the primary source of law in France, that there are different types of legislation, and that legislative sources are organised hierarchically. Moreover, the chapter also considers, within the constitutional framework, the legislative process and examines the way in which bills are drafted. It also seeks to familiarise readers with the layout of a French statute. In addition, this chapter shows that much of French law though not all of it is codified. Codification is a particular legislative technique common to most civil law systems.

Buildings

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Rez
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
The Difference ◽  
As If

Most of the energy used by buildings goes into heating and cooling. For small buildings, such as houses, heat transfer by conduction through the sides is as much as, if not greater than, the heat transfer from air exchanges with the outside. For large buildings, such as offices and factories, the greater volume-to-surface ratio means that air exchanges are more significant. Lights, people and equipment can make significant contributions. Since the energy used depends on the difference in temperature between the inside and the outside, local climate is the most important factor that determines energy use. If heating is required, it is usually more efficient to use a heat pump than to directly burn a fossil fuel. Using diffuse daylight is always more energy efficient than lighting up a room with artificial lights, although this will set a limit on the size of buildings.

FOSSIL FUEL ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION: A STRATEGY USING RADIOCARBON, N-ALKANES, AND ALGAE

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Túlio César Aguiar Silva ◽  
Carla Carvalho ◽  
Bruno Libardoni ◽  
Kita Macario ◽  
Felippe Braga de Lima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Gas Chromatography ◽  
Environmental Contamination ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Maximum Intensity ◽  
Effective Technique ◽  
The World ◽  
Work Samples

ABSTRACT Fossil fuels are of utmost importance to the world we live in today. However, their use can cause major impacts on the environment, especially on water resources. In this regard, algae have been intensively used as a strategy for remediation and monitoring of environmental pollution due to its efficient absorption of contaminants. In this work, samples of seaweed collected in Niterói/RJ—contaminated with kerosene and diesel—were analyzed by radiocarbon (14C) accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and by n-alkane quantification with gas chromatography to evaluate bioaccumulation in function of the dosage of contaminants. The biogenic content measured by radiocarbon analysis resulted in 95.6% for algae contaminated with 10 mL of kerosene and 67.6% for algae contaminated with 10 mL of diesel. The maximum intensity of n-C17 n-alkane in algae with 5 mL, 10 mL, and 15 mL of diesel was 768.2, 1878.1, and 5699.2 ng.g-1, respectively. While the maximum concentration of n-C27 in algae with 5 mL, 10 mL and 15 mL of kerosene was 3.3, 35.9, and 150.3 ng.g-1. We concluded that, for both contaminants, their incorporation into algae increases as the contamination dosage increases, making this methodology an effective technique for monitoring and remediation of urban aquatic ecosystems.

Potential of World Agro-Food Sphere: Pluralism of Assessments

2011 ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
E. Kovalev
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
World Population ◽  
Food Crisis ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Technological Civilization ◽  
The Way

In 2007-2008 the world food crisis has substantially aggravated. This is a good reason to ponder over the fate of our technological civilization and a reminder of the finite nature of the resources used by the mankind. These resources include minerals, land suitable for cultivation, water and, at last, the technologies for securing the growing world population with the foods. The crisis has opened the eyes of many enthusiasts of the scientific and technological progress to some of its bitter fruits, in particular, to the polarization of food production and consumption, hunger and poverty of millions human beings, environmental pollution, progressive exhaustion of resources. Still, there are enough reasons to be optimistic. Earth's civilization has survived many turning points and has always found the way out and the methods to resolve the problem. It may be hoped that the humanity will also found the way out from the maze of problems that showed up as a result of the food crisis, at least in the foreseeable future.

Quitting (The) Habit: Fossil Fuels, Governmentality and the Politics of Energy Dependency

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (103) ◽  
pp. 63-77
Author(s):  
Imre Szeman
Keyword(s):  
Specific Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
State Power ◽  
System Change ◽  
Analytic Tool ◽  
Energy Dependency

This paper investigates habit in relation to fossil-fuel dependency. Habit names sets of actions and practices that are deeply codified into daily life, including practices connected to the use of large amounts of energy. Developing an understanding of energy habits appears to constitute a possible site of intervention into the ongoing use of fossil fuels. I argue that by tending to focus on individual energy practices, habit makes it difficult to raise larger, systemic questions related to energy use. Indeed, more critical explorations of habit, such as practice theory or via Bourdieu's notion of habitus, emphasise the need to attend to system more than specific energy habits. Investigating habit in relation to energy does, however, reveal some of the current limits and problems involved in changing fossil-fuel dependency on the part of many states. The paper turns to an investigation of the operations of governmentality in relation to energy to show the multiple ways in which the contemporary configuration of state power makes it unable to fully attend to fossil-fuel dependency. Making small changes to energy use via changes to energy habit never results in the system change required. While habit can thus be a useful analytic tool in understanding state power in relation to energy use, the paper argues that it is not a mechanism through which one might fundamentally change current configurations of energy dependency.

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