Petroleum oil makes our cars run and creates all of our plastic. Natural gas heats our homes and cooks our food. Coal powers our factories and gives us electricity. Living in today’s America, one depends immensely on these fossil fuels and could confidently say that fossil fuels are the most important resources in the modern, industrial world. However, these natural resources are not just any resource, they are nonrenewable.
Nonrenewable resources are resources that hold value in society but that cannot be reasonably replaced once they are used. Fossil fuels are the product of compressed carbon that took millions of years to make. Hence, it will take millions of years for the Earth to remake what humans have taken from it.
Oil
Many argue that with incoming technologies, more oil reserves will be discovered and the Earth will never run out. They think that we have only tapped around 5% of oil reserves around the world. While some sources state things along these lines, others, like Paul Ehrlich, quote that “The world will run out of oil in 2030, and other fossil fuels in 2050.”
The issue here is we have almost no idea how much oil is out there, we can only guess where reserves might be and estimate how much oil we can get from them. With protected lands and communities established on top of reserves and many being offshore, we also cannot access the resource that lies beneath.
Numerous issues loom over the acquiring and use of oil. The largest problem concerning oil comes with disasters that occur when transporting oil and accidents at drilling rigs. The world has seen numerous oil spills offshore, the most infamous being Deepwater Horizon. This spill alone dumped over 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Not only do oil spills waste an insane amount of oil, but they also cause human deaths and endanger all of the ecosystems that are touched with the crude substance.
Coal
Coal has been a staple in life since industrialization began and, luckily, it is the largest reserve of all fossil fuels. The U.S. tops the chart of countries in which coal is proven to be. To put this in perspective, however, coal can only be found in 10 countries across the globe.
BP (the same company that was responsible for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) quotes that “World proved coal reserves are currently sufficient to meet 153 years of global production, roughly three times the [reserves-to-production] ratio for oil and gas.” So, while coal is controlled by only 10 countries, there is enough to sustain the world’s current use of coal for at least another two generations. But with the exponentially growing population and continued increase in demand of electricity, will our consumption of this resource continue at today’s rate for the next 153 years?
Although there does not seem to be a pressing issue to conserve coal yet, its use yields a great detriment to the world as the largest producer of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are a group of gases that trap heat inside the Earth’s atmosphere and cause climate change across the planet. In the burning of coal, carbon dioxide and methane are released, which both contribute to this problem. Efforts to relieve the release of these harmful substances into the atmosphere do exist, (ex. “clean” coal) but in reality, they are not as successful as they need to be to stop the progression of global climate change.
Natural Gas
In comparison to the previous two resources, natural gas is relatively new to use in modern day and is mainly used for heating and cooking. Because it is not as widely used, current projected reserves should last about 80 years at the current rate of consumption. As with the other resources, if consumption rates increase, this amount of time will be dramatically reduced.
This gas is highly flammable and can be quite toxic. The burning of natural gas also releases greenhouse gases, but not nearly to the extent of coal.
The dangers of natural gas come with how it is recovered from the Earth, since it is not easy to capture a gas. The method used is called fracking, which involves drilling and then using high-pressure bursts of water and sand to fracture rocks and release the natural gas. This process is used widely across Pennsylvania and has caused geologic issues across the state such as earthquakes and de-stabilized surfaces.
In order to prolong the nonrenewable resources that we have, we must convert to renewable resources like nuclear power, hydropower, wind power, and solar power. We should also work on further developing new technologies so that we can wean off of fossil fuels and not scramble to adjust once these resources are suddenly depleted. However, both of these options cost a great deal of money and currently, no government is willing to shovel out the funding to further these projects because they do not see the end of fossil fuels in the coming decades as a current pressing issue.
http://needtoknow.nas.edu/energy/energy-sources/fossil-fuels/
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/eme801/node/486
https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy/coal/coal-reserves.html
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=58&t=8
February 15, 2018 at 2:04 pm
Fossil fuels are a very pressing topic today because of like you said they are nonrenewable and they are running out. I don’t understand why clean energy sources aren’t used more. They’re clean and are renewable. I also remember the first earthquake I experienced was where I live in Pennsylvania and I was so confused. There was construction down the street so I thought it was a huge truck or something, but I was watching the news as it happened and it was because of fracking.
February 15, 2018 at 2:26 pm
I find it interesting how often we can go through our daily lives, that are so impacted and interconnected to the use of fossil fuels and not really think about it. The BP spill was a tragic accident and I was recently learning about the mechanics of how it occurred in class, realizing that it was due in large part to human error. Also, energy usage solutions are filled with grey lines and unclear solutions.
February 15, 2018 at 2:32 pm
I think that it is exciting how quickly renewable energy technologies are improving. Just within the past decade, many forms of energy transitioned from being forbiddingly expensive, to being a realistic alternative for many families within the US and abroad. Solar power is one that is particularly exciting. Improvements in the solar cells have dropped the cost of installing panels substantially, and improvements in battery technology brought on by Elon Musk have electricity a viable alternative for many purposes. As the costs continue to drop, I am confident that alternative fuels will become far more common, especially given the increasing difficulty to obtain fossil fuels.