Fossil Fuels

Energy ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Goldemberg

What are the fossil fuels? Fossil fuels—coal, petroleum, natural gas, and their by-products— account for approximately 85% of the world′s primary energy needs today. Use of these fuels drives industrialized economies and has become an integral part of every aspect of productive activity and...

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Antonio Díaz-Pérez ◽  
Juan Carlos Serrano-Ruiz

Concerns about depleting fossil fuels and global warming effects are pushing our society to search for new renewable sources of energy with the potential to substitute coal, natural gas, and petroleum. In this sense, biomass, the only renewable source of carbon available on Earth, is the perfect replacement for petroleum in producing renewable fuels. The aviation sector is responsible for a significant fraction of greenhouse gas emissions, and two billion barrels of petroleum are being consumed annually to produce the jet fuels required to transport people and goods around the world. Governments are pushing directives to replace fossil fuel-derived jet fuels with those derived from biomass. The present mini review is aimed to summarize the main technologies available today for converting biomass into liquid hydrocarbon fuels with a molecular weight and structure suitable for being used as aviation fuels. Particular emphasis will be placed on those routes involving heterogeneous catalysts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Burri

Abstract In spite of great progress in energy efficiency and in the development of renewable energy the world is likely to need significant amounts of fossil fuel throughout this century and beyond (the share of fossil fuels in the world mix has remained at about 86% of primary energy from 1990 to today). Gas, being the by far cleanest fossil fuel is the ideal bridging fuel to a world with predominantly renewable supplies. Thanks to the recent perfection of unconventional technologies there is no shortage of gas for this bridging function for at least the next 100-200 years. EASAC and several other European Institutions, notably the German Academy of Technical Sciences (acatech) have in the last few years carried out expert studies to assess the alleged environmental risks of unconventional hydrocarbon exploration and production. All these studies have, in agreement with other competent studies worldwide, come to the conclusion that there exists no scientific reason for a ban on hydraulic fracturing. With good practices, clear standards and adequate control the method causes no enhanced risks to the environment or the health of humans. Special attention has to be paid to the surface handling of drilling and fracking fluids. In Europe alone many thousand frac jobs have been carried out by the industry in the last 60 years without any severe accidents. The mishaps in North America have largely been the cause of unprofessional operations and human error. Especially in places with high air pollution, like many megacities of Asia, natural gas has to be seen as a unique chance to achieve a rapid improvement of the air quality and a significant reduction of CO2 emissions. This is also true for Europe where especially the use of domestic natural gas brings important benefits to the environment. The alternative to gas is in many regions of the world an increased consumption of coal, with all negative consequences.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Solmaz Mukhtarova ◽  

The Turkish Republics of the Caspian region have maintained their importance throughout history and are still important for a variety of reasons. Always having strategic importance, this region is sometimes commercially military-friendly. At present, the world is on the agenda thanks to rich oil and natural gas reserves, and has not been stable for many years. The search for alternative hydrocarbon resources is to meet the growing population in the world today and thus meet growing energy needs. In this case, the countries of the Caspian region have become the countries attracting attention to the rich energy resources of Western energy and global energy companies.


Author(s):  
Marco Gambini ◽  
Michela Vellini

Hydrogen technology is becoming ever more relevant because hydrogen use can help containing greenhouse gas emission if CO2 capture and storage techniques are implemented in the hydrogen production technology (when hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels). For this reason this work aims at carrying out a comparative analysis of possible energy scenarios in urban districts: a medium-small Italian city is taken into consideration, and its energy consumptions, both for domestic and industrial use, are evaluated. The current situation, in which conventional technologies meet the energy needs, is compared to a hypothetical scenario where clean energy vectors, namely hydrogen and electricity, are utilized together with traditional primary energy supply. Hydrogen production by means of coal decarbonization is investigated, as well as hydrogen use in advanced energy systems for transport and for electric and thermal energy generation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-101
Author(s):  
Ivan Smajla ◽  
Romana Crneković ◽  
Daria Karasalihović Sedlar ◽  
Filip Božić

This paper analyzes the possible role of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the region in reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by replacing a certain part of solid fossil fuels. Increasing natural gas consumption, declining North Sea natural gas reserves and increased natural gas production costs in Europe combined have created new opportunities for LNG in Europe. The Energy Strategy of Croatia is focused on intensifying the transit position for natural gas that could establish Croatia as a primary LNG market for countries from the region, which shows that the Energy Strategy supports LNG. Concerning LNG’s introduction into the regional gas market, this paper analyses the possibility of establishing a regional gas hub. The region in this paper includes the following countries: Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovenia, and North Macedonia. On the other hand, the observed markets are not organized and sufficiently liquid, which is a crucial precondition for hub establishment. In order to decrease the region’s dependence on pipeline natural gas, it is necessary to construct gas interconnections between Croatia – Serbia, Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia – North Macedonia. With the mentioned interconnections, the region could achieve greater security of natural gas supply. This paper discusses the possibility of utilizing the full capacity of a LNG terminal as a source of natural gas supply for the purpose of replacing solid fossil fuels in the region’s primary energy consumption. By replacing solid fossil fuels with natural gas, it is possible to achieve significant savings on CO2 emissions, which contributes towards a green and sustainable future.


1972 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
R.J.S. Sherwin

We are wholly dependent upon energy of solar, terrestrial and celestial origin. Contributions from any basically new form of energy are unlikely. Fossil fuels are the basis of modern economies, crude oil being dominant.Overall energy demand and the considerable, special merits of crude oil and natural gas will lead to enormous demand for these two commodities in the coming decades. Oil and gas lend themselves to the economies of scale which are as important as technical factors. Vigorous and efficient world-wide exploration and research and development in improved recovery would appear urgent and important. A shortfall in these commodities could have serious economic repercussions world-wide. A massive shortfall could be disastrous.Research and development in coal, oil shale, tar sands, heavy oil, nuclear fracturing of reservoir rocks and fundamental issues to improve overall efficiency in using resources are worth early expenditure. Doubling total system efficiency or recovery percentage would each be equivalent to doubling proven reserves.Australia seems fairly well endowed with natural gas and brown coal but the locations with respect to large population centres are less than ideal. Reserves of uranium are also substantial. There could be serious shortages of black coal and oil resources. A good balance of components might not be easy to achieve if national security were given due weight. For example, to maintain its industrial economic growth Australia needs imported crude oil as a major contributor to primary energy consumption in spite of vulnerability to foreign control of supply and price.


Author(s):  
Zina Arabeche ◽  
Mohammed El Amine Abdelli

Since the emergence of the industrial revolution, the use of energy resources has increased considerably, particularly non renewable (coal, oil and gas), so these resources are no longer sufficient to cover the different energy needs, and this has become a challenge to the energy independance of many gouvernment now and in the future. This has caused the world to scramble for other ways to satisfy these needs in which the results of scientific research and development envolved from alternative uses of old energy sources and named green economy, and many think about the future of energy despite the barriers that still hinder the general application of this type of economy. Energy consumption in Algeria is focused almost entirely on fossil fuels, hydrocarbons, and gas in particular. In recent years, Algeria is deciding to move intro the green economy, the unique solution for meeting future energy requirements and helping reduce environmental risks.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Vargas Suarez ◽  
Jason Donev

<p>There are extensive conceptual difficulties in understanding a country’s energy story. Every country in the world uses some combination of energy production, imports, and exports energy to meet their society’s needs. Thermal inefficiencies converting primary energy into electricity further confuse the issues. A visualization using large, publicly available data can help illustrate these different energy perspectives. This data visualization helps clarify the following perspectives: Production, Imports, Exports, Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES), Total Final Consumption (TFC), and the conversion losses from turning TPES into TFC. TPES refers to the total amount of energy a country obtains directly from natural resources such as fossil fuels or wind. TFC refers to the addition of the all energy directly consumed by a user for an energy service such as electricity for lighting in a house. This paper discusses the interactive simulation that was built to allow users to explore the composition of a country’s energy production, imports and exports through the conversion into energy people consume. The simulation allows users to explore the energy stories for different countries, and how these change over the decades.</p>


Clean Energy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-140
Author(s):  
Fabio Orecchini ◽  
Adriano Santiangeli ◽  
Fabrizio Zuccari

Abstract To pursue the goal of sustainable mobility, two main paths can be considered: the electrification of vehicles and the use of biofuels, replacing fossil fuels, in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. This paper proposes an analysis of different possible scenarios for automobiles towards a CO2-neutral energy system, in the path of the use of biofuels and the production, distribution and use of biomethane. The study, an update of work presented previously, focuses on different scenarios that take into account numerous parameters that affect the overall efficiency of the production-and-use process. A Well-to-Wheel analysis is used to estimate the primary energy savings and reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions compared both to the use of fossil-based methane and to other fuels and automotive technologies. In particular, the study shows that the Non-Renewable Primary Energy Consumption (NRPEC) for biomethane is slightly higher (+9%) than that of biodiesel, but significantly lower than those of all the other power trains analysed: –69% compared to the battery electric vehicle (BEV) and –55% compared to bioethanol. Compared to the use of fossil natural gas, the NRPEC is reduced to just over a third (2.81). With regard to CO2 emissions, biomethane has the lowest values: –69% compared to BEV, –176% compared to bioethanol and –124% with respect to biodiesel. Compared to the use of fossil natural gas, the CO2 emissions are reduced over a third (3.55). Moreover, the paper shows that biomethane can completely cover the consumption of fossil methane for vehicles in Italy, proposing two different hypotheses: maximum production and minimum production. It is evident, therefore, that biomethane production can completely cover the consumption of fossil methane for vehicles: this means that the use of biomethane in the car can lead to a reduction in NRPEC equal to 28.9 × 106 GJ/year and a reduction of CO2 emissions equal to 1.9 × 106 t/year.


Author(s):  
Muzakar Isa ◽  
Kusmiati Kusmiati

The need for energy is increasing every year. More than 80% of energy needs met by fossil fuels derived from petroleum and natural gas. To anticipate, the Government issued Presidential Regulation No. 5 of 2006 on the national energy. In this regulation, the government took steps to saving energy and looking for new sources of energy that are renewable and environmentally friendly. One is bioethanol. This study aims to analyze the competitiveness of bioethanol industry in Bekonang Sukoharjo. This study used mixed methods, namely the incorporation of quantitative and qualitative methods in a single study. The measurement of competitiveness is using Porter's Diamond Model. The results show the competitiveness of bioethanol industry is influenced by business strategy, potential buyers, working capital and innovation. Currently, bioethanol industry competitiveness is low.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document