Oil is also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions: in , oil combustion was responsible for 45 percent of U. Extracting and transporting oil poses major environmental and safety risks. Pipelines, offshore drilling wells, and related infrastructure often leak, polluting oceans, wetlands, freshwater sources, and other ecosystems and threatening human health. Thousands of oil spills occur each year in the United States, and although many are small, they can still harm animals and humans.
Major oil spills, such as the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, which released three million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, impact ecosystems for decades. Despite a drop in oil production and consumption in because of the COVID pandemic, both are expected to return to levels within the next few years. The future of oil through remains uncertain as economies move away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable renewable energy. Coal is primarily used to generate electricity and, in , supplied 19 percent of U.
Coal's share has been steadily decreasing as the costs of natural gas and renewable energy have dropped, making coal less competitive.
As coal usage has dropped in the United States, so have carbon dioxide emissions from coal—by 50 percent from to Coal production in the United States has been dropping since and is expected to continue to decline in the future. Multiple methods are employed for extracting coal, the most common of which is surface mining, which involves removing the top layers of soil and rock to access the coal. Surface mining accounts for 62 percent of coal extraction. Underground mining, which creates tunnels in mountains to access coal, accounts for the other 38 percent.
Both methods create environmental and human health issues in surrounding areas. Coal combustion produces a variety of air pollutants that harm human and environmental health, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and particulate matter. Coal ash is another harmful coal waste product, which is difficult to recycle and can seep into waterways, polluting them.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that million tons of coal ash are generated each year in the United States. Natural gas is burned to generate an increasing share of U. The energy conversion goes from chemical energy stored in the fuels, to heat energy as it burns which is converted to kinetic energy as it drives large turbines and finally this is converted to electrical energy. The problem with burning fossil fuels is their effect on the environment.
As mentioned fossil fuels are Hydrocarbons. When hydrocarbons are burned in the presence of oxygen they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a Greenhouse Gas and is a leading cause of Global Warming. Fossil fuels are also used in the petrochemicals industry, here the fossil fuels are used to make plastics, paints and even medication. Ireland has a history of coal mining in areas of Leinster including Kilkenny, Carlow and Laois. The Arigna coal mine in Co.
Roscommon opened in the late 18th century and ran up as far as the 's. Today Ireland imports most of its coal from areas such as Poland.
The use of coal for production of electricity is decreasing as shale gas becomes more available. Natural gas is widely used in Ireland with supplies coming from both Irish sources and imports. There are a number of gas fields in operation off the coast of Ireland including Kinsale Head, Ballycotton and the Seven Heads fields all located off the coast of County Cork. In recent years a new gas field located at Corrib off the west coast has been exploited. Oil is one of the world's most valuable commodities.
In Ireland oil is no longer used for the production of electricity but is heavily relied on for transport and home heating. Ireland has no domestic oil production and depends entirely on imports. In Ireland Peat has two main uses, generating electricity and home heating.
Ireland has many raised bogs across the midlands. To prevent the destruction of Ireland's peatlands and their ecosystems many raised bogs and blanket bogs have been given legal protection and restrictions to peat harvesting have been put in place. First the energy source must be found, geologists are constantly studying areas and their rocks to determine if deposits or wells are likely to occur.
Once a source is located it then needs to be removed from the Earth. Extraction processes can vary from mining for coal, mechanical harvesting of peat and drilling for oil and gas. Processing can take the form of crushing, grinding and milling. Coal is broken into smaller usable lumps for use in domestic settings and peat is often milled and compressed into briquettes for use in the home. The oil that is pumped from the earth is extracted in the form of crude oil.
This oil must be sent to a refinery where the different mixtures of fuels are separated by a processes called fractional distillation. The oil is separated into its different components such as petrol, diesel, kerosene, and residue. These components can be processed further to make plastics.
Energy: Fracking or hydraulic fracturing. Geoenergy Programme: Carbon Capture and Storage. They have chemical energy stored within them.
About three-quarters of the electricity generated in the UK comes from power stations fuelled by fossil fuels. This diagram shows an energy transfer diagram for the generation of electricity from a fossil fuel such as coal. Carbon capture and storage is a way to prevent carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere. It is a rapidly evolving technology that involves separating carbon dioxide from waste gases.
The carbon dioxide is then stored underground, for example in old oil or gas fields such as those found under the North Sea.
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