Introduction: Energy And Fuels
Access to cheap energy is a linchpin of modern industry and civilisation
. Energy, mostly from fossil fuels, allows us to heat homes, and power factories and transportation systems. Worldwide every day, we devour the energy equivalent of about 200 million barrels of oil, but much of this energy comes from coal, gas and nuclear fuel too.
Starting with coal, and then oil and gas in the 1800s, we have plundered our fossil fuel riches to drive development. But now, an energy crisis looms. New oil sources are dwindling, and smothering greenhouse gases threaten the Earth - yet energy demands will rise by 50% to 60% by 2030. We need to rapidly develop sustainable solutions - from hydrogen cells to wind turbines - to fuel our future.
Most of the energy on Earth comes from the Sun. In fact enough energy from the Sun hits the planet's surface each minute to cover our needs for an entire year, we just need to find an efficient way to harness it. So far the energy in oil has been cheaper and easier to get at. But as supplies dwindle, this will change, and we will need to cure our addiction to oil.
Thirst for oil
Burning wood satisfied most energy needs until the steam-driven industrial revolution, when energy-dense coal became the fuel of choice. Coal is still used, mostly in power stations, to cover one-quarter of our energy needs, but its use has been declining since we started pumping up oil. Coal is the least efficient, unhealthiest and most environmentally damaging fossil fuel, but could make a comeback, as supplies are still plentiful: its reserves are five times larger than oil's.
Today petroleum (derived from oil) provides around 40% of the world's energy needs, mostly fuelling automobiles. The US guzzles up a quarter of all oil, and generates a similar proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. The first wells were drilled 2400 years ago, but the modern oil industry was born in the 1850s.
The majority of oil comes from the Middle East, which has half of known reserves. But other significant sources include Russia, North America, Norway, Venezuela and the North Sea. Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could be a major new US source, to reduce reliance on foreign imports, but drilling there is currently prohibited.
Most experts predict we will exhaust easily accessible reserves within 50 years, though opinions and estimates vary. We could fast reach an energy crisis in the next few decades; when demand outstrips supply. As conventional reserves become more difficult to access, others such as oil shales and tar sands may be used instead. Petrol could also be extracted from coal.
Since we started using fossil fuels, we have released 400 billion tonnes of carbon, and burning the entire reserves could eventually raise world temperatures by 13C. Among other horrors, this would result in the destruction of all rainforests and the melting of all Arctic ice. London would be as hot as Cairo, but would also be engulfed by seawater. (See our Special Report on Climate Change for more.)
Gas, naturally
Natural gas reserves could plug some of the gap from oil, but reserves of that - some of which are in Russia, the Middle East and the Wadden Sea - will not last into the 22nd century either. We currently use it for around one-third of world electricity generation.
Natural gas, which is mostly methane, is the cleanest fossil fuel by weight, emitting just 40% the greenhouse gases of coal and 25% of oil. As a less-polluting alternative to petrol, its use is increasing in automobiles - either as compressed natural gas or for powering hydrogen fuel cells. When reserves do run low, we may be able to access vast frozen methane hydrate reserves beneath the seabed.
In the next few decades, one way for the UK and others to meet greenhouse gas reduction commitments, could be increased nuclear power generation. Currently, about 440 reactors in 32 countries generate 16% of world electricity. (See our Special Report on The Nuclear Age for more.)
Despite a slow decline of support for nuclear power in the west following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, many countries, such as the US, Japan and India are now embracing the technology again. But using nuclear power to mitigate environmental damage is a double-edged sword, because disposing of nuclear waste is itself an intractable problem. Expense, safety in usual operation and terrorism are major concerns too, not to mention the fact that building new facilities can take decades.
Sustainable alternatives
Less-polluting renewable energy sources offer a more practical long-term energy solution. They may benefit the world's poor too. "Renewable" refers to the fact these resources are not used faster than they can be replaced.
The Chinese and Romans used watermills over 2000 years ago. But the first hydroelectric dam was built in England in 1870. Hydroelectric power is now the most common form of renewable energy, supplying around 20% of world electricity.
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