Filling the Energy Gap

So, how are we going to meet the World's energy needs?

Source: bbc.co.uk

As we discussed before, energy demand is on the increase. However, the sources of energy we rely on as a World at the moment - mainly fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas, see the image above)  - have two main problems:

1. Sources of fossil fuels are becoming harder to find and use

2. Fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide when they burnt to create energy, and this carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, thought to be responsible for global warming and climate change.

Why are fossil fuels becoming hard to find?

Fossil fuels are non renewable. They take millions of years to be created by the pressure and heat of the Earth, and we use them at a much faster rate than they could ever be replaced. That means that many of the easy to reach stores of coal, oil and gas have already been mined and drilled. 

Technology is helping humans to discover and use stores of fossil fuels that they couldn't in the past. For example, deepwater oil rigs that drill for oil miles under the sea, or fracking, which manages to get at gas trapped in rocks like shale. However, we have to accept that fossil fuels are finite and they will eventually run out.

How fracking works

Source: bbc.co.uk

And the global warming thing?

Most climate scientists now agree that burning fossil fuels puts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and that this carbon dioxide traps heat, warming up the Earth and changing the climate. The IPCC has made it clear that if we want to stop the Earth warming too much, that we need to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere. Even though there are some technologies that help reduce the amount of carbon released by burning fossil fuels, none of these is used widely and so it is likely that if we want to reduce carbon dioxide, we will have to reduce our use of fossil fuels.

Anything else?

Well, mining and drilling for coal, oil and gas can damage the landscape and natural habitats. And transporting these fuels, especially oil, can lead to spillages that destroy ecosystems.

Mining oil sands in Canada

Source: By TastyCakes is the photographer, Jamitzky subsequently equalized the colour. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Cleaning up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Source: NOAA

So what can we do instead?

As the graph at the top shows, there are other sources of energy - renewables (which are cleaner and won't run out), hydro (Hydroelectric Power, or HEP - a type of renewable), and nuclear. Even companies like Shell, who have traditionally sold fossil fuels, accept that these other sources are going to be important in the future.

What should we do?

Deciding which energy sources to use in the future will depend on the advantages and disadvantages of each. The disadvantages of fossil fuels have been discussed above, but they have advantages - they are currently easy enough to find, we know how to use them, and compared to some other sources of energy, they are still quite cheap. Nuclear and renewable energies also have advantages and disadvantages, and we will begin to explore these in the following posts.