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Environmental Environmental problems associated problems associated with fossil fuel usewith fossil fuel use

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What uses does coal have nowadays?

Burning of coal can create electricity When coal is made into coke there are many by-p

roducts, such as benzol, ammonium compounds and tar

Tar is one of the source to produce town-gas in Hong Kong

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What are the problems with the use of coal?

1. Mining coal can cause environmental damage:i. Solid waste produced from mining process, like

silts from stone washing and dustii. Collapse of the overlying strata

Damage to buildings, roads, underground pipes, sewers and cables, and to

agriculture through the disruption of drainage systems

2. Low energy value increase in the amount of coal used

3. Exhaustion of coal reserves

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4. Air pollution (local problem):Smog: Mixture of smoke and fog

cause a health hazard e.g. London P.8 / Los Angeles

5. Emission of SO2 and NOx gases(Global problem): Complete combustion only CO2 and H2O produced

Incomplete combustion and impurities:Produce ash (contaminated with tarry unburnt hydrocarbons), SO2 and NOx gases

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What uses does oil have? Create valuable fuel products (e.g. petrol and diesel

oil) and petrol-chemical products (e.g. plastics, fertilizers and detergents)

Farming machines mechanization of farming

Industrial use

Provide energy for the development of basic infrastructure

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Provide energy for the extensive transportation systems and advanced communication networks

Improvement in the living standards

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What are the problems with the use of oil? Environmental Problems:

1. Air pollution :Burning of oil CO2, NOx,SO2, CO, hydrocarbon would be emitted

i. Illness: Cause respiratory illnesses: Asthma, irritate the throat and eyes

ii. Greenhouse effect, acid rain and smog: Emission of CO2 Greenhouse effect climatic change SO2 and NO react with rain Acid rain Smog: Mixture of smoke and fog cause a health hazard e.g. : London P.8 of your notes Los Angeles

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2. Water pollution

i. Spillage from tankers involved in accidentse.g. Alaska Oil spill

ii. Tankers at sea washing out their oil tanks

iii. Oil seeping from oil pipelines and oil refineries, most of which are on the coast

iv. Oil leaking from offshore oil rigs

v. Waste from factories making goods from oil by-products

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3. Soil pollution

i. Chemicals made from oil by-products, and used in agriculturee.g. fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides

ii. Disposal of oil-related waste products which do not completely degrade or disintegrate in the environment

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Why is the use of natural gas on the rise?

Advantages:

1. High energy content2. Cleanliness3. Convenience and flexible4. Easy to control5. Can be transported by pipeline quickly and

easily6. Can be liquefied and transported by gas tanker7. Only leave water vapor and CO2 when burns

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Is it possible to alleviate these problems? How?

Yes.How?Major objective to alleviate the problem: Reduce the use of fossil fuels Extraction would be reduced and thus the pollution

problem occurred could be alleviated

Solutions:i. Increase the efficiency of fossil-fuel use Reduce emissions by producing more energy

services with the same amount of fuelii. Develop non-fossil sources that can substitute

economically on a large scale

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iii. To encourage the reduction in

consumptions of oil products

iv. To use more energy-efficient equipment for heating,cooling and lighting

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What are the obstacles for tackling these problems?

1) Strong institutional pressure (regulation, taxation, subsidy)

2) Often used as economic or even political weapon among countries (e.g. OPEC)

3) Inertia:Costly to abandon expensive equipment before its useful life is completed

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4) Costs would be extremely high because:I. unreturned investments on the original

equipment II. the non-fossil technologies developed to

date are still expensive and limited in supply

5) Costs would be unevenly distributed:• most oppressive for the developing

nations, because they are least able to pay and their energy needs are growing rapidly

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The EndThe End