Finding more about fossil fuels on the Net

Finding more about fossil fuels on the Net

Ellen Whyte
Columnist
Malaysia
ellenwhyte@lepak.com

Simple everyday things like boiling a kettle, drying your hair
with a hairdryer, or heating and air-conditioning your home takes
a lot of energy, much of which comes from the energy released by
burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.

This week we take a look at fossil fuels and their uses.

From wood to oil

Until recently, the most commonly used fuel was wood. Easy to
gather and simple to use, wood was burnt in special stoves used
for cooking, and in fireplaces for heating homes in colder
climates. Coal was also commonly used. It was harder to gather
than wood as it was often hidden deep in the ground. However,
mining it was worth the effort as coal is a more efficient source
of energy. A small coal fire lasts longer and burns hotter than a
small wood fire.

In the late 1700s a series of complex machines that required
lots of energy were invented. This industrial revolution changed
the way resources were used. Steam trains and boats started off
depending on coal burning machines to power them. Then engines
that ran on various oil products were developed. Trains, boats
and factories began to use power driven machines that could work
faster and better than traditional craftsmen.

The Energy Planet site at
http://library.thinkquest.org/C004471 explores energy sources
used throughout the ages and describes how important tools such
as fuel cells were developed.

How fossil fuels are created

We know that the earth is constantly changing. Although we
don't live long enough to see so for ourselves, we know that
continents, mountains, valleys, rivers, deserts, forests and
other features appear and disappear. Coal, oil and natural gas
are the result of such changes. They were created by the
compression and heating of ancient forests. To put it a different
way, oil and gas are the fossilized remains of ancient trees,
plants and shrubs.

Although wood was popular, coal was the primary source of
energy in the countries that were experiencing the industrial
revolution in the 1800s. There are two types of coal.

The first and most often found is bituminous coal, a soft coal
that burns well but that creates lots of ash, smoke and sulfur
dioxide when it burns. Anthracite is a harder coal that burns
more efficiently and creates fewer pollutants. However,
anthracite coal is also much more rarely found than bituminous
coal.

Today oil is a more popular energy source than coal. When
crude oil is processed, or refined, the petroleum products
created include kerosene, petrol, lubricating oils and diesel.
In the middle of last century, when internal combustion engines
became popular, petroleum became the most important fuel.

Another popular fuel today is natural gas, a product usually
found very near oil fields. It is made up of methane (80 percent)
as well as ethane, butane and propane. Piped from underground,
natural gas is used in homes as part of the heating system or to
power cookers. It is one of the cleanest fossil fuels.

A pretty page describing how fossil fuels were created and how
they are extracted today is Energy Story at
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html.

The rest of the site explores how generators, turbines and
power plants work, what alternative energies are available and
other related matters. Click on the television icon in the menu
to access the index.

For more information about the oil industry visit the
International Petroleum Museum and Exposition
http://www.rigmuseum.com and checkout the illustrated histories
of the oil industry and an offshore drilling rig called Charlie.
For local information check out Indonesia's Pertamina at
http://www.pertamina.com that describes company products and
current projects (Bahasa Indonesia only).

Environmental impact

Extracting and burning fossil fuels is not a very clean
process. Mines that dig out the coal from the earth and pumps
that suck up oil from underground reservoirs scar the land and
water on the surface, often destroying existing ecosystems. See
for yourself what impact these practices have by visiting Visible
Earth at
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/Human_Dimensions/Environmental_Impacts.

As harvesting fossil fuel is so damaging some people believe
we should stop further exploitation. Visit the Rainforest Action
Network's Case Against New Fossil Fuel Exploration at
http://www.ran.org/oilreport/africa.html to learn more of these
arguments.

What next?

As it takes millions of years for plants to turn into fossil
fuels, fossil fuels can be said to be a non-renewable resource
from a human perspective. When we have used up the last of the
fossil fuels to power our machines there will be no more. This is
why scientists are experimenting with alternative fuels that can
be manufactured easily and cheaply.

Information about these is available from the Energy Planet
and Energy Story sites mentioned above. However, another
interesting initiative worth exploring is biodiesel. To learn
more visit Biodiesel Industries at
http://www.pipeline.to/biodiesel.

For more information search for the terms: fossil fuels,
alternative energy.