Fossil fuel

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"Oil and gas" redirects here. For other uses, see Oil and gas (disambiguation).

The main fossil fuels: gas, oil and coal.

A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, crude oil and natural gas.[1] Fossil fuels may be burned to provide heat for use directly (such as for cooking or heating), to power engines (such as internal combustion engines in motor vehicles), or to generate electricity.[2] Some fossil fuels are refined into derivatives such as kerosene, gasoline and propane before burning. The origin of fossil fuels is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing organic molecules created by photosynthesis.[3] The conversion from these materials to high-carbon fossil fuels typically require a geological process of millions of years.[4]

In 2019, 84% of primary energy consumption in the world and 64% of its electricity was from fossil fuels.[5] The large-scale burning of fossil fuels causes serious environmental damage. Over 80% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by human activity comes from burning them: around 35 billion tonnes a year,[6] compared to 4 billion from land development.[7] Natural processes on Earth, mostly absorption by the ocean, can only remove a small part of this. Therefore, there is a net increase of many billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year.[8] Although methane leaks are significant,[9]: 52  the burning of fossil fuels is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming and ocean acidification. Additionally, most air pollution deaths are due to fossil fuel particulates and noxious gases. It is estimated that this costs over 3% of global GDP[10] and that fossil fuel phase-out would save millions of lives each year.[11]

Recognition of the climate crisis, pollution and other negative impacts caused by fossil fuels has led to a widespread policy transition and activist movement focused on ending their use in favor of sustainable energy.[12] However, because the fossil fuel industry is so heavily integrated in the global economy and heavily subsidized,[13] this transition is expected to have significant economic impacts.[14] Many stakeholders argue that this change needs to be a just transition[15] and create policy that addresses the societal burdens created by the stranded assets of the fossil fuel industry.[16][17]

International policy, in the form of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action and the Paris Climate Agreement, is designed to facilitate this transition at a global level. In 2021, the International Energy Agency concluded that no new fossil fuel extraction projects could be opened if the global economy and society wants to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and meet international goals for climate change mitigation.[18]

Origin

Since oil fields are located only at certain places on earth,[19] only some countries are oil-independent; the other countries depend on the oil-production capacities of these countries

The theory that fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in Earth's crust over millions of years was first introduced by Andreas Libavius "in his 1597 Alchemia [Alchymia]" and later by Mikhail Lomonosov "as early as 1757 and certainly by 1763".[20] The first use of the term "fossil fuel" occurs in the work of the German chemist Caspar Neumann, in English translation in 1759.[21] The Oxford English Dictionary notes that in the phrase "fossil fuel" the adjective "fossil" means "[o]btained by digging; found buried in the earth", which dates to at least 1652,[22] before the English noun "fossil" came to refer primarily to long-dead organisms in the early 18th century.[23]

Aquatic phytoplankton and zooplankton that died and sedimented in large quantities under anoxic conditions millions of years ago began forming petroleum and natural gas as a result of anaerobic decomposition. Over geological time this organic matter, mixed with mud, became buried under further heavy layers of inorganic sediment. The resulting high temperature and pressure caused the organic matter to chemically alter, first into a waxy material known as kerogen, which is found in oil shales, and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in a process known as catagenesis. Despite these heat-driven transformations, the energy released in combustion is still photosynthetic in origin.[3]

Terrestrial plants tended to form coal and methane. Many of the coal fields date to the Carboniferous period of Earth's history. Terrestrial plants also form type III kerogen, a source of natural gas. Although fossil fuels are continually formed by natural processes, they are classified as non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and known viable reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are generated.[24][25]

Importance

A petrochemical refinery in Grangemouth, Scotland, UK
See also: Fossil fuel power station

Fossil fuels have been important to human development because they can be readily burned in the open atmosphere to produce heat. The use of peat as a domestic fuel predates recorded history. Coal was burned in some early furnaces for the smelting of metal ore, while semi-solid hydrocarbons from oil seeps were also burned in ancient times,[26] they were mostly used for waterproofing and embalming.[27]

Commercial exploitation of petroleum began in the 19th century.[28]

Natural gas, once flared-off as an unneeded byproduct of petroleum production, is now considered a very valuable resource.[29] Natural gas deposits are also the main source of helium.

Heavy crude oil, which is much more viscous than conventional crude oil, and oil sands, where bitumen is found mixed with sand and clay, began to become more important as sources of fossil fuel in the early 2000s.[30] Oil shale and similar materials are sedimentary rocks containing kerogen, a complex mixture of high-molecular weight organic compounds, which yield synthetic crude oil when heated (pyrolyzed). With additional processing, they can be employed instead of other established fossil fuels. During the 2010s and 2020s there was disinvestment from exploitation of such resources due to their high carbon cost relative to more easily-processed reserves.[31]

Prior to the latter half of the 18th century, windmills and watermills provided the energy needed for work such as milling flour, sawing wood or pumping water, while burning wood or peat provided domestic heat. The wide-scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, in steam engines enabled the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas were coming into wide use. The invention of the internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles and trucks greatly increased the demand for gasoline and diesel oil, both made from fossil fuels. Other forms of transportation, railways and aircraft, also require fossil fuels. The other major use for fossil fuels is in generating electricity and as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Tar, a leftover of petroleum extraction, is used in the construction of roads.

The energy for the Green Revolution was provided by fossil fuels in the form of fertilizers (natural gas), pesticides (oil), and hydrocarbon fueled irrigation.[32][33] The development of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has significantly supported global population growth — it has been estimated that almost half the people on the Earth are currently fed as a result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use.[34] According to ICIS Fertilizers managing editor Julia Meehan, "People don’t realise that 50% of the world’s food relies on fertilisers."[35]

An oil well in the Gulf of Mexico

Environmental effects

The Global Carbon Project shows how additions to CO2 since 1880 have been caused by different sources ramping up one after another.
Main articles: Effects of climate change and Health and environmental impact of the coal industry

The burning of fossil fuels has a number of negative externalities – harmful environmental impacts where the effects extend beyond the people using the fuel. The actual effects depend on the fuel in question. All fossil fuels release CO2 when they burn, thus accelerating climate change. Burning coal, and to a lesser extent oil and its derivatives, contribute to atmospheric particulate matter, smog and acid rain.[36][37][38]

Global surface temperature reconstruction over the last 2000 years using proxy data from tree rings, corals, and ice cores in blue.[39] Directly observational data is in red, with all data showing a 5 year moving average.[40]
In 2020, renewables overtook fossil fuels as the European Union's main source of electricity for the first time.[41]

Climate change is largely driven by the release of greenhouse gasses like CO2, with the burning of fossil fuels being the main source of these emissions. In most parts of the world climate change is negatively impacting ecosystems.[42] This includes contributing to the extinction of species (see also extinction risk from climate change) and reducing people's ability to produce food, thus adding to the problem of world hunger. Continued rises in global temperatures will lead to further adverse effects on both ecosystems and people, with the World Health Organization having stated climate change is the greatest threat to human health in the 21st century.[43][44]

Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulfuric and nitric acids, which fall to Earth as acid rain, impacting both natural areas and the built environment. Monuments and sculptures made from marble and limestone are particularly vulnerable, as the acids dissolve calcium carbonate.

Fossil fuels also contain radioactive materials, mainly uranium and thorium, which are released into the atmosphere. In 2000, about 12,000 tonnes of thorium and 5,000 tonnes of uranium were released worldwide from burning coal.[45] It is estimated that during 1982, US coal burning released 155 times as much radioactivity into the atmosphere as the Three Mile Island accident.[46]

Burning coal also generates large amounts of bottom ash and fly ash. These materials are used in a wide variety of applications (see Fly ash reuse), utilizing, for example, about 40% of the United States production.[47]

In addition to the effects that result from burning, the harvesting, processing, and distribution of fossil fuels also have environmental effects. Coal mining methods, particularly mountaintop removal and strip mining, have negative environmental impacts, and offshore oil drilling poses a hazard to aquatic organisms. Fossil fuel wells can contribute to methane release via fugitive gas emissions. Oil refineries also have negative environmental impacts, including air and water pollution. Coal is sometimes transported by diesel-powered locomotives, while crude oil is typically transported by tanker ships, requiring the combustion of additional fossil fuels.

A variety of mitigating efforts have arisen to counter the negative effects of fossil fuels. This includes a movement to use alternative energy sources, such as renewable energy. Environmental regulation uses a variety of approaches to limit these emissions; for example, rules against releasing waste products like fly ash into the atmosphere.[38]

In December 2020, the United Nations released a report saying that despite the need to reduce greenhouse emissions, various governments are "doubling down" on fossil fuels, in some cases diverting over 50% of their COVID-19 recovery stimulus funding to fossil fuel production rather than to alternative energy. The UN secretary general António Guterres declared that "Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back – and it is already doing so with growing force and fury." However, Guterres also said there is still cause for hope, anticipating Joe Biden's plan for the US to join other large emitters like China and the EU in adopting targets to reach net zero emissions by 2050.[48][49][50]

Illness and deaths

Environmental pollution from fossil fuels impacts humans because particulates and other air pollution from fossil fuel combustion cause illness and death when inhaled. These health effects include premature death, acute respiratory illness, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function. The poor, undernourished, very young and very old, and people with preexisting respiratory disease and other ill health are more at risk.[51] Global air pollution deaths due to fossil fuels in 2018 have been estimated at over 8 million people, nearly 1 in 5 deaths worldwide.[52]

While all energy sources inherently have adverse effects, the data shows that fossil fuels cause the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions and are the most dangerous for human health. In contrast, modern renewable energy sources appear to be safer for human health and cleaner. The death rate from accidents and air pollution in the EU are as follows per terawatt-hour: coal (24.6 deaths), oil (18.4 deaths), natural gas (2.8 deaths), biomass (4.6 deaths), hydropower (0.02 deaths), nuclear energy (0.07 deaths), wind (0.04 deaths), and solar (0.02 deaths). The greenhouse gas emissions from each energy source are as follows, measured in tonnes: coal (820 tonnes), oil (720 tonnes), natural gas (490 tonnes), biomass (78–230 tonnes), hydropower (34 tonnes), nuclear energy (3 tonnes), wind (4 tonnes), and solar (5 tonnes).[53] As the data shows, coal, oil, natural gas, and biomass cause higher death rates and higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions than hydropower, nuclear energy, wind, and solar power. Scientists propose that 1.8 million lives have been saved by replacing fossil fuel sources with nuclear power.[54]

Phase-out

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Just transition

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Divestment

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Investment: Companies, governments and households invested $501.3 billion in decarbonization in 2020, including renewable energy (solar, wind), electric vehicles and associated charging infrastructure, energy storage, energy-efficient heating systems, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen.[55]
Cost: With increasingly widespread implementation of renewable energy sources, costs have declined, most notably for energy generated by solar panels.[56]
Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is a measure of the average net present cost of electricity generation for a generating plant over its lifetime.

Industrial sector

Main articles: Coal industry and Petroleum industry
Further information: Fossil fuel exporters and Fossil fuels lobby

In 2019, Saudi Aramco was listed and it reached a US$2 trillion valuation on its second day of trading,[57] after the world's largest initial public offering.[58]

Economic effects

Air pollution from fossil fuels in 2018 has been estimated to cost US$2.9 trillion, or 3.3% of global GDP.[10]

Subsidies

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Lobbying activities

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See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Fossil fuel". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Fossil fuels". Geological Survey Ireland. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b "thermochemistry of fossil fuel formation" (PDF).
  4. ^ Paul Mann, Lisa Gahagan, and Mark B. Gordon, "Tectonic setting of the world's giant oil and gas fields", in Michel T. Halbouty (ed.) Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade, 1990–1999, Tulsa, Okla.: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, p. 50, accessed 22 June 2009.
  5. ^ Ritchie, Hannah; Roser, Max (28 November 2020). "Energy". Our World in Data.
  6. ^ Ambrose, Jillian (12 April 2020). "Carbon emissions from fossil fuels could fall by 2.5bn tonnes in 2020". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Global Carbon Project (GCP)". www.globalcarbonproject.org. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  8. ^ "What Are Greenhouse Gases?". US Department of Energy. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  9. ^ "Chapter 2: Emissions trends and drivers" (PDF). Ipcc_Ar6_Wgiii. 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Quantifying the Economic Costs of Air Pollution from Fossil Fuels" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 April 2020.
  11. ^ Zhang, Sharon. "Air Pollution Is Killing More People Than Smoking—and Fossil Fuels Are Largely to Blame". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  12. ^ Dickie, Gloria (4 April 2022). "Factbox: Key takeaways from the IPCC report on climate change mitigation". Reuters. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  13. ^ "Price Spike Fortifies Fossil Fuel Subsidies". Energy Intelligence. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  14. ^ "Why are fossil fuels so hard to quit?". Brookings. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  15. ^ "IPCC: We can tackle climate change if big oil gets out of the way". the Guardian. 5 April 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  16. ^ Monga, Jean Eaglesham and Vipal (20 November 2021). "Trillions in Assets May Be Left Stranded as Companies Address Climate Change". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  17. ^ Bos, Kyra; Gupta, Joyeeta (1 October 2019). "Stranded assets and stranded resources: Implications for climate change mitigation and global sustainable development". Energy Research & Social Science. 56: 101215. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2019.05.025. ISSN 2214-6296. S2CID 198658515.
  18. ^ "No new oil, gas or coal development if world is to reach net zero by 2050, says world energy body". the Guardian. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  19. ^ Oil fields map Archived 6 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine. quakeinfo.ucsd.edu
  20. ^ Hsu, Chang Samuel; Robinson, Paul R. (2017). Springer Handbook of Petroleum Technology (2nd, illustrated ed.). Springer. p. 360. ISBN 978-3-319-49347-3. Extract of p. 360
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  23. ^ "fossil". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) – "fossil [...] n. [...] Something preserved in the ground, esp. in petrified form in rock, and recognizable as the remains of a living organism of a former geological period, or as preserving an impression or trace of such an organism."
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  25. ^ Ahuja, Satinder (2015). Food, Energy, and Water: The Chemistry Connection. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-12-800374-9. Retrieved 14 April 2018 – via Google Books.
  26. ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica, use of oil seeps in ancient times". Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  27. ^ Bilkadi, Zayn (1992). "Bulls From the Sea: Ancient Oil Industries". Aramco World. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007.
  28. ^ Ball, Max W.; Douglas Ball; Daniel S. Turner (1965). This Fascinating Oil Business. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN 978-0-672-50829-5.
  29. ^ Kaldany, Rashad, Director Oil, Gas, Mining and Chemicals Dept, World Bank (13 December 2006). Global Gas Flaring Reduction: A Time for Action! (PDF). Global Forum on Flaring & Gas Utilization. Paris. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  30. ^ "Oil Sands Global Market Potential 2007". Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  31. ^ Carrington, Damian (12 December 2017). "Insurance giant Axa dumps investments in tar sands pipelines". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  32. ^ Eating Fossil Fuels. EnergyBulletin. Archived June 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ "Soaring fertilizer prices put global food security at risk". Axios. 6 May 2022.
  34. ^ Erisman, Jan Willem; MA Sutton, J Galloway, Z Klimont, W Winiwarter (October 2008). "How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world". Nature Geoscience. 1 (10): 636–639. Bibcode:2008NatGe...1..636E. doi:10.1038/ngeo325. S2CID 94880859. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ "Fears global energy crisis could lead to famine in vulnerable countries". The Guardian. 20 October 2021.
  36. ^ Oswald Spengler (1932). Man and Technics (PDF). Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-8371-8875-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  37. ^ Griffin, Rodman (10 July 1992). "Alternative Energy". 2 (2): 573–596. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  38. ^ a b Michael Stephenson (2018). Energy and Climate Change: An Introduction to Geological Controls, Interventions and Mitigations. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0128120217.
  39. ^ Neukom, Raphael; Barboza, Luis A.; Erb, Michael P.; Shi, Feng; et al. (2019). "Consistent multidecadal variability in global temperature reconstructions and simulations over the Common Era". Nature Geoscience. 12 (8): 643–649. Bibcode:2019NatGe..12..643P. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0400-0. ISSN 1752-0908. PMC 6675609. PMID 31372180.
  40. ^ "Global Annual Mean Surface Air Temperature Change". NASA. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  41. ^ "The European Power Sector in 2020 / Up-to-Date Analysis on the Electricity Transition" (PDF). ember-climate.org. Ember and Agora Energiewende. 25 January 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 January 2021.
  42. ^ EPA (19 January 2017). "Climate Impacts on Ecosystems". Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  43. ^ "WHO calls for urgent action to protect health from climate change". World Health Organization. November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  44. ^ World Meteorological Organization (2020). WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019. WMO-No. 1248. Geneva. ISBN 978-92-63-11248-4.
  45. ^ Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger Archived 5 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Alex Gabbard
  46. ^ Nuclear proliferation through coal burning Archived 27 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine – Gordon J. Aubrecht, II, Ohio State University
  47. ^ American Coal Ash Association. "CCP Production and Use Survey" (PDF).[permanent dead link][dead link]
  48. ^ Damian Carrington (2 December 2020). "World is 'doubling down' on fossil fuels despite climate crisis – UN report". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  49. ^ Fiona Harvey (2 December 2020). "Humanity is waging war on nature, says UN secretary general". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  50. ^ "The Production Gap: The discrepancy between countries' planned fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C or 2°C". UNEP. December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  51. ^ Liodakis, E; Dashdorj, Dugersuren; Mitchell, Gary E. (2011). The nuclear alternative: Energy Production within Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. AIP Conference Proceedings. Vol. 1342. p. 91. Bibcode:2011AIPC.1342...91L. doi:10.1063/1.3583174.
  52. ^ February 19; Chaisson, 2021 Clara. "Fossil Fuel Air Pollution Kills One in Five People". NRDC. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  53. ^ "What are the safest and cleanest sources of energy?". Our World in Data. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  54. ^ Jogalekar, Ashutosh. "Nuclear power may have saved 1.8 million lives otherwise lost to fossil fuels, may save up to 7 million more". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  55. ^ "Energy Transition Investment Hit $500 Billion in 2020 – For First Time". BloombergNEF. (Bloomberg New Energy Finance). 19 January 2021. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021.
  56. ^ Chrobak, Ula; Chodosh, Sara (28 January 2021). "Solar power got cheap. So why aren't we using it more?". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. ● Chodosh's graphic is derived from data in "Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Version 14.0" (PDF). Lazard.com. Lazard. 19 October 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 January 2021.
  57. ^ Kerr, Simeon; Massoudi, Arash; Raval, Anjli (19 December 2019). "Saudi Aramco touches $2tn valuation on second day of trading". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  58. ^ Raval, Anjli; Kerr, Simeon; Stafford, Philip (5 December 2019). "Saudi Aramco raises $25.6bn in world's biggest IPO". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 January 2020.

Further reading

  • Ross Barrett and Daniel Worden (eds.), Oil Culture. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
  • Bob Johnson, Carbon Nation: Fossil Fuels in the Making of American Culture. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2014.

External links

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