Carbon Based Fuels

Questions

1. What are carbon based fuels?
2. How are these fuels obtained?
3. What quantities of fuels are available?
4. How do carbon based fuels compare with other sources of energy?

Lecture Notes

• Lecture Notes

News Articles

• New York Times Energy Topics (coal)
• MSHA's new rules for underground coal mine exams aim to hold operators more accountable
• The Coal Age Nears Its End
• Biofuels
• Water Use for Shale-Gas Production in Texas, U.S.
• Fracking Could Hinder Underground Carbon Storage
• Progress Update: EPA's Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources
• EPA Shrinking ‘Halliburton Loophole’ Threatens Obama Gas Pledge

Background Information

• Energy Story
• Coal Mining (West Virginia)
• World Coal Association
• How Do They Do It, Coal Mining (Video)
• Coal Mines - Modern Marvels (video)
• How It Works: Fossil Fuel Power
• Teach Coal
• Aerial view of southwest Virginia surface mining site
• You Are Here
• Natural Gas
• Fracking Friction (video)
• Garth Lenz: The True Cost of Oil
• Aging Indiana power plant to shut down, cutting Chicago-area air pollution
• It's Official: 'Age of Shale' Has Arrived
• Bilal Bomani: Plant fuels that could power a jet (video)
• Survey of Energy Resources: Shale Gas - What's New by World Energy Council 2011
• EPA Sets Cuts in Plant Emissions
• Illinois Coal Plants Ahead of EPA Mercury Rule
• Carbon Capture and Storage

Take Away (Main) Points

This is a vast topic - these points are not comprehensive to this topic.

1. Fossil fuels are formed over millions of years and are not renewable.
2. The primary fossil fuels we use are coal, gas and oil (petroleum).
3. All fossil fuels, when burned with oxygen, producs carbon dioxide and water.
4. Reactions which release heat are called exothermic.
5. Energy is not created or destroyed - only transformed.
6. Energy is the ability to do work - but to harness that energy is not always easy to do.
7. Energy and work are measured in joules or calories.
8. Power is the rate that energy is transformed - and is measured in watts.
9. Examples of energy include: light, electricity, heat.
10. Coal is never pure. It contains traces of sulfur and other heavy metals. To burn coal for energy these pollutants must be removed.
11. Oil is a mixtured of many substances - these have to be separated to be useful. This is called oil refining.
12. Methane, CH₄, is natural gas. It is primarily used to heat homes and businesses in this country.
13. Fossil fuels supply 85% of the energy used in the United States.