Fossil Fuels: Examination and Prediction of Future Tends
Loading...
Date
2012-03
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
The accumulation of fossil fuels is a process that took hundreds of millions of years, yet in just
the last few hundred years we have depleted a large percentage of the total amount formed. The future
trends of fossil fuels are difficult to predict because of the many different factors that affect the
production and consumption of each fossil fuel. To present accurate predictions about coal, oil, natural
gas, and other energy sources like uranium, factors such as human population growth, the energy
requirements in developing countries vs. developed countries, use of comparable fossil and renewable
fuels, and environmental concerns and responses must be considered. By using conversion factors, the
numerical energy values for each resource are equalized based on the thermal energy of oil. By this
conversion the total amount of energy producible from the total reserves of each resource can be
compared against one another. Taking into account these many variables, predictions results may
accurately reflect the trends these fossil fuels will take in the future.
Description
Keywords
fuel, coal, uranium, gas