Fossil fuel

“ Any strategy for reducing carbon emissions must also deal with coal, which is actually the most abundant source of energy in this country. To keep using this fossil fuel, I believe we need to invest in the kind of advanced coal technology that will keep our air cleaner while still keeping our coal mines in business. Over the next two decades, power companies are expected to build dozens of new coal-fired power plants, and countries like India and China will build hundreds. ”

“ But the exploitation of renewable sources such as fuelwood and hydropower also entails ecological problems. Hence sustainability requires a clear focus on conserving and efficiently using energy.
62. Industrialized countries must recognize that their energy consumption is polluting the biosphere and eating into scarce fossil fuel supplies. Recent improvements in energy efficiency and a shift towards less energy-intensive sectors have helped limit consumption. But the process must be accelerated to reduce per capita consumption and encourage a shift to non-polluting sources and technologies. ”

“ This potential energy becomes kinetic and available wherever and whenever the powerful chemical affinity of oxygen for carbon is permitted to come into play; and the fossil fuel stored in our coal-beds or the wood of existing forests is, by the familiar process of combustion, permitted to return to the state of combination with oxygen in which it existed in the earliest geological periods. ”

“ Now it's not enough to only build cars that use less oil - we also have to start moving away from that dirty, dwindling fossil fuel altogether. That's why my second proposal will create a market for clean-burning, home-grown biofuels like ethanol that can replace the oil we use and begin to slow the damage caused by global climate change. ”

“ For the typical U.S. household, a metric ton of carbon equals about 10,000 miles of driving at 25 miles per gallon of gasoline or about one year of home heating using a natural gas-fired furnace or about four months of electricity from coal-fired generation.↑ The United States accounts for nearly as many emissions as the former Soviet bloc, the Middle East, Central and South America, and Africa combined. Use of fossil fuel in the United States is split roughly into three categories: commercial and residential buildings and appliances, industry, and transportation. ”

“ Expenditures with respect to research facilities, and research grants, to support research in— `` (i) development of cellulosic ethanol or other nonfossil fuels, `` (ii) technologies for the capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide produced through the use of fossil fuels, `` (iii) increasing the efficiency of existing technologies for producing nonfossil fuels, `` (iv) automobile battery technologies and other technologies to reduce fossil fuel consumption in transportation, or `` (v) technologies to reduce energy use in buildings. ”

“ A comprehensive energy plan will require bold action on many fronts. To fully combat global climate change, we'll need a stringent cap on all carbon emissions and the creation of a global market that would make the development of low-carbon technologies profitable and create thousands of new jobs. We'll also need to find a way to use coal - America's most abundant fossil fuel - without adding harmful greenhouse gases to the environment. ”

“ With the substitution of coal a new condition was introduced, and the question of fuel became for the time of less moment than the supply of crude materials. These could only be obtained in certain localities, while the fossil fuel was available in many. In our own day, and within the last half dozen years, another and much greater disturbance of the industrial equilibrium has been brought about by the displacement of coal by natural gas. ”

“ These problems are becoming more widespread particularly in tropical and subtropical regions, but their economic, social, and political repercussions are as yet not fully appreciated by society. Wih the exception of CO2, air pollutants can be removed from fossil fuel comustion processes at costs usually below the costs of damage caused by pollution. [23] However, the risks of global warming make heavy future reliance upon fossil fuels problematic. ”

“ And many firms and workers in the energy sector—coal mine operators and miners, oil companies, and electricity producers that rely on fossil fuels for generation—would bear a disproportionate burden in lost profits and wages. ”

“ There are roughly 1,500 billion to 1,700 billion mtc in proven coal, oil, and natural gas reserves that can be extracted using current technology, along with an estimated 7,000 billion to 16,000 billion mtc in resources that might ultimately be recovered using advanced technology—not including reservoirs of methane hydrate under the ocean. [9] Without some sort of intervention, increasing levels of emissions—mainly of carbon dioxide from the use of fossil fuels—will continue to raise atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases for the foreseeable future. ”

“ Yet the relationship between the use of fossil energy and economic prosperity is not a strict one. Countries that have significant reserves of nonfossil energy, that rely on imports for much of their fuel supply, or that tax the consumption of fuel tend to have lower emissions levels. ”

“ Will rising greenhouse gas concentrations increase the probability of threshold effects, which could suddenly shift the climate into a significantly different global pattern?
Other sources of uncertainty are essentially economic. How rapidly will the world’s population and economies grow? How energy- and land-intensive will human activities be, and how much of the energy used for those activities will come from fossil fuels? How will policies to control emissions of greenhouse gases or to encourage technological developments affect the accumulation of gases in the atmosphere? ”

“ A development of this sort, together with new power sources to replace the fossil fuels on which factory, home, and vehicle now depend, might also all but eliminate the growing smog and air-pollution blight. ”

“ That will have an impact. That will take a lot of carbon out of the atmosphere. We doubled the production of clean energy, which promises to reduce the utilization of fossil fuels for power generation. And we continue to invest in potential breakthrough technologies that could further remove carbon from our atmosphere. ”

“ Our demand for fossil coal is of growing importance; for our increasing population at once increases the demand for fuel, and diminishes the supply of wood. I was happy to see last evening, the specimen of anthracite coal from the county of Augusta; and the value of that mineral deserved the high eulogy it received. We may form some idea of the importance of fossil coal, from the fact that steam engines in England are now computed to perform annually, the work of four hundred millions of men! ”

“ In 2011, natural gas provided 25 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. Its production creates jobs and provides economic benefits to the entire domestic production supply chain, as well as to chemical and other manufacturers, who benefit from lower feedstock and energy costs. By helping to power our transportation system, greater use of natural gas can also reduce our dependence on oil. And with appropriate safeguards, natural gas can provide a cleaner source of energy than other fossil fuels. ”

“ The consequent impact on the environment is greater than ever before in human history.
19. Over the past century, the use of fossil fuels has grown nearly thirtyfold, and industrial production has increased move than fiftyfold. The bulk of this increase, about three-quarters in the case of fossil fuels and a little over four-fifths in the case of industrial production, has taken place since 1950. The annual increase in industrial production today is perhaps as large as the total production in Europe around the end of the 1930s. ”

“ And so we're not going to be able to deal with any of these issues in isolation. The more that we can develop technologies that tap alternative sources of energy but also contain the environmental damage of fossil fuels, the better off we're going to be. ”

“ Ancillary Benefits of Greenhouse Gas Restrictions By reducing the use of fossil fuels, restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions would also reduce emissions of other pollutants such as sulfur dioxide from coal burning and nitrous oxide from automobiles. ”

“ The fourth thing -- and this is the thing that's going to take a little bit longer -- is we've got to improve basic science, research and development. When it comes to solar, when it comes to wind, the price has gone down, but generally speaking it's still a little more expensive than fossil fuels: coal, natural gas, and so forth. ”

“ Carbon dioxide and other ordinary pollutants often come from the same sources, mainly from the burning and utilization of fossil fuels. Controlling the use of fossil fuels and consequently reducing carbon emissions have a lasting impact on the economic structure, energy mix, forms of transport, modes of production, and ways of life. ”

“ You have a lot of conservation measures listed here. Are you trying to dissuade us from the notion that we've, frankly, been reporting for weeks that the thrust of this policy is more supply? Are you trying to sell us now that the thrust of this is conservation? MR. FLEISCHER: No, I'm just giving you the number of recommendations as they break down. You also have to put them in the context of the use of energy in America. And the use of energy in America right now is approximately -- I think it's 84 percent that comes from fossil fuels, and the remaining comes from renewables or nuclear. ”

“ Regulation and Innovation To a great extent, the cost of controlling greenhouse gas emissions and stabilizing atmospheric concentrations will ultimately depend on technological developments over the next century. Innovation that dramatically reduces the cost of producing energy from non-fossil sources or of sequestering carbon dioxide emissions will ease the process of controlling emissions; innovation that tends to reduce the cost of finding, extracting, and using fossil fuels will complicate it. ”

“ On a per-person basis, OECD countries currently burn about 3 mtc of fossil fuels per year—three times the world average—with national figures ranging from over 51⁄2 mtc per person for the United States to less than 1 mtc for Mexico and Turkey. ”

“ Number one, is extraordinary demand in America. And we use 22 million barrels of oil a day. Twelve million of those barrels are imported. It's the reason we have to make a bold transformation from what we are doing now.
Also, on the issue of climate change, we ought to cap carbon emissions in the United States. We ought to invest in clean alternative sources of energy. We ought to invest in carbon sequestration technology, in cold technology. A billion dollars, at least, into making sure we build the most fuel efficient vehicles on the planet. ”

“ These alternative fuels-such as ethanol, methanol, natural gas, propane, electricity, and biodiesel-can make significant contributions to our energy security and environmental quality. By increasing the use of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) , we can reduce our demand for imported oil, create new products, jobs, and businesses, and improve air quality by dramatically reducing carbon dioxide emissions as well as the hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter that are such major contributors to urban air pollution. ”

“ By expanding our use of renewable and alternative fuels like ethanol, we can become less dependent on oil, and confront the serious challenge of climate change.
To increase the supply of alternative fuels, I've asked Congress to join me in setting a mandatory fuel standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017 -- nearly five times the current target. ”

“ This will generate millions of dollars to invest in renewable sources of energy and create new jobs and even a new industry in the process. I'll put in place a low-carbon fuel standard that will take 50 million cars' worth of pollution off the road. And I'd raise the fuel efficiency standards for our cars and trucks because we know we have the technology to do it and it's time we did. ”

“ Today, I'm announcing the first steps on our journey toward energy independence, as we develop new energy, set new fuel efficiency standards, and address greenhouse gas emissions. Each step begins to move us in a new direction, while giving us the tools that we need to change. ”

“ Now, one of the biggest factors in bringing more jobs back is our commitment to American energy. The all-of-the-above energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today, America is closer to energy independence than we’ve been in decades.
One of the reasons why is natural gas – if extracted safely, it’s the bridge fuel that can power our economy with less of the carbon pollution that causes climate change. Businesses plan to invest almost $100 billion in new factories that use natural gas. ”

“ Beginning in 2010, we will require petroleum makers to reduce the carbon content of their fuel mix one percent per year by selling more clean, alternative fuels in its place. This proposal will spur greater production and availability of renewable fuels like cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel, and it will even create an incentive for the production of more flexible-fuel and plug-in hybrid vehicles that can use these clean fuels or charge up with renewable electricity. ”

“ At the G8 meeting in July, I'm going to ask other world leaders to join America in helping developing countries find practical ways to use clean energy technology, to be more efficient about how they use energy. You see, when the global demand for oil is lower, Americans will be better off at the gas pump.
The final step toward making America less dependent on foreign oil is to develop new alternatives to gasoline and diesel. Here at Virginia BioDiesel, you are using Virginia soybean oil to produce a clean-burning fuel. ”