Energy Resources & Policy
Thermal energy release through oxidation
Historic sequence of fuels:
• Wood
• Coal
• Oil
• Natural Gas
Eventual displacement by renewables:
• Hydro
• Solar
• Wind
• Geothermal
Deforestation in Borneo
Deforestation in Sumatra: erosion, siltation of rivers, etc.
Charcoal is created via partial
combustion of wood in a kiln or
covered pile
Early 20th-century coal mine with child laborers
Cross-section of lung with Coal workers' pneumoconiosis , aka black lung disease
Duke Energy’s coal ash spill into the Dan River, North Carolina 2014
Strip-mining coal
Mountain-top removal for coal
Killer smog in London, 1952
(ground-level ozone & particulates
from coal-burning)
Beijing smog
1920’s oil rigs
“stripper” well
Shallow off-shore oilfield
Deep-water oil rig
Extraction of crude from Canadian tar sands
Flaring natural gas
Satellite image of natural gas flares in the Bakken oil fields.
As much as 1/3 of the natural gas is flared rather than captured for use.
Extracting natural gas from reservoirs or sedimentary deposits
Hydraulic fracturing