LESSON 2

USES AND SOURCES OF ENERGY

The major uses of energy are listed below

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Food production and electricity

Transportation
Residential and commercial lightning, cooling and heating system
Mining, smelting, and industrial processes
Generation of electricity

Three major sources of energy

1. Coal
2. Oil
3. Natural gas
1.1 Fossil Fuels
Include petroleum, coal and natural gas.
1.2 Coal
A solid fuel plant of plant origin. In remote geological times, and particularly in the Carboniferous period, between
345 and 280 million years ago, much of the world was covered with luxuriant vegetation growing in swamps.
Various types of coal
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Peat
Lignite
Bituminous
Anthracite coal
Ash

Advantages of Coal
All ranks of coal have some economic value. For centuries peat has been used as a fuel for open fires, and more
recently peat and lignite have been made into briquettes for burning in furnaces.
Disadvantages of Coal
Some products of coal combustion have detrimental effects on the environment. Burning coal produces carbon
dioxide, among other by products.
1.3 Natural Gas
Is extracted from wells as deep as 10 km into the earth. It is a mixture of hydrocarbons with low molecular weights
of methane as the main element.
Natural gas contains valuable organic elements that are important raw materials of the petroleum and chemical
industries. Before natural gas is used in fuel, heavy hydrocarbons such as butane, propane, and petrol are extracted
in liquids.
1.4 Oil

 Petroleum, or crude oil, naturally occurring oily, bituminous liquid composed of various organic chemicals. It is
found in large quantities below the surface of the earth and is used as a fuel and as a raw material in the chemical
industry.
Characteristics
All petroleum consist principally of hydrocarbons, although a few sulfur containing and oxygen-containing
compounds are usually presents; the sulfur content varies from about 0.1 to 5 percent. Petroleum contains gaseous,
liquid, and solid elements.
Three broad classes of crude petroleum exist the paraffin types, the asphaltic types, and the mixed-base types.
The paraffin types are composed of molecules in which the number of hydrogen atom is always two more than
twice the number of carbon atoms. The characteristic molecules in the asphaltic types are naphthenes, composed of
twice as many hydrogen atoms as carbon atoms. In the mixed-base group are both paraffin hydrocarbons and
naphthenes.
Formation
Petroleum is formed under the earths surface by the decomposition of marine organism.
Drilling
The rotary drilling rig uses a series of rotating pipes, called the drill string, to tap into an oil reservoir the drill
string is supported by a derrick, and turned by the rotary table on its floor.
Distillation
The first stage in the refining of crude oil is to separate it into parts called fractions, according to molecular
weight. The crude oil is heated in a furnace and passed into the fractionating column, in which the temperature
decreases with increasing height.
Production Volumes and Reserves
In 1999, 324 quadrillion British thermal unit (Btu) of fossil fuels were consumed worldwide. These fuels were in
the form of oil, gas, and coal.
Economics of the industry
The oil industry is a major contributor to the economies of a large number of oil-producing countries worldwide.
The export of oil is a key factor in the economies of some of the poorer countries.

Lesson 3
Energy crisis and conservation
It is predicted that the worlds fossil fuel resources, since they are nonrenewable, may be exhausted a few hundred
years from now or even sooner.
The greatest demand and rate of these resources in industries, transportation, mining and domestic households all
over the world may just make this prediction is reality.
OPEC- The organization of petroleum exporting countries controls these oil reserves.
When there is shortage of available energy source price go up. With the increase in fuel price, prices of
commodities also increase. Gasoline which is used in transportation becomes expensive. Transportation cost
therefore increase.

 Environmental problems are associated with the production and consumption of energy. Combustion of fuel causes
all kinds of pollution problems. We are all familiar with smog and smoke from exhausts of vehicles. They have
adverse effect to our health. .l;.;.;