Engineering
Researchers have developed floating "artificial leaves" that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water, and could eventually operate on a large scale at sea.
Aug 17, 2022
0
25
Engineering
As important as the internal combustion engine has been for societal progress, it is also a major contributor to pollution that damages human health and carbon emissions that help drive the climate crisis. Close to 30% of ...
Aug 16, 2022
0
262
Energy & Green Tech
A major economic bill headed to the president has "game-changing" incentives for the nuclear energy industry, experts say, and those tax credits are even more substantial if a facility is sited in a community where a coal ...
Aug 14, 2022
2
35
Business
Across the United States, local wind and solar jobs can fully replace the coal-plant jobs that will be lost as the nation's power-generation system moves away from fossil fuels in the coming decades, according to a new University ...
Aug 10, 2022
2
5026
Business
A $52 billion federal package to incentivize U.S. production of semiconductor chips has energized the high-tech sector, but operations experts aren't convinced it will be the end to dramatic shortages that have created pain ...
Aug 09, 2022
0
4
Engineering
Researchers from the University of Glasgow have developed a new type of heat pump, a flexible heat pump technology, which could help households save on their energy bills and contribute towards net-zero emissions goals.
Aug 01, 2022
5
1929
Energy & Green Tech
Hydrogen production should be carefully regulated and consumers informed about emissions credentials if Australia is to achieve a sustainable energy economy and net zero emissions by 2050, QUT experts warn.
Aug 01, 2022
1
3
Energy & Green Tech
Using solar panels in the tourism industry in countries like Greece and Cyprus will not only help reduce carbon emissions but also significantly reduce costs, research has found.
Jul 28, 2022
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33
Energy & Green Tech
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced steps Friday to speed up the clean-energy transition and fight climate change, including an end to building gas-burning power plants, even as the move away from fossil fuels has threatened ...
Jul 25, 2022
0
21
Energy & Green Tech
The future seems bleak for Canada's oilsands. But given the world's ongoing need for smooth, safe roads, there is hope for the industry. Asphalt binder made from oilsands bitumen is the ideal glue to hold the world's 40 million ...
Jul 25, 2022
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38
Fossil fuels or mineral fuels are fuels formed by natural resources such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years. These fuels contain high percentage of carbon and hydrocarbons.
Fossil fuels range from volatile materials with low carbon:hydrogen ratios like methane, to liquid petroleum to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon, like anthracite coal. Methane can be found in hydrocarbon fields, alone, associated with oil, or in the form of methane clathrates. It is generally accepted that they formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants and animals by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. This biogenic theory was first introduced by Georg Agricola in 1556 and later by Mikhail Lomonosov in the 18th century.
It was estimated by the Energy Information Administration that in 2006 primary sources of energy consisted of petroleum 36.8%, coal 26.6%, natural gas 22.9%, amounting to an 86% share for fossil fuels in primary energy production in the world. Non-fossil sources included hydroelectric 6.3%, nuclear 6.0%, and (geothermal, solar, tide, wind, wood, waste) amounting 0.9 percent. World energy consumption was growing about 2.3% per year.
Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form, and reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being formed. The production and use of fossil fuels raise environmental concerns. A global movement toward the generation of renewable energy is therefore under way to help meet increased energy needs.[citation needed]
The burning of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes (21.3 gigatonnes) of carbon dioxide per year, but it is estimated that natural processes can only absorb about half of that amount, so there is a net increase of 10.65 billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year (one tonne of atmospheric carbon is equivalent to 44/12 or 3.7 tonnes of carbon). Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that enhances radiative forcing and contributes to global warming, causing the average surface temperature of the Earth to rise in response, which climate scientists agree will cause major adverse effects.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
