Fossil fuels

on Energy

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Fossil fuels, sometimes known as traditional energy resources or nonrenewable energy resources, are formed over millions of years by decayed animal and plant matter buried under rock layers. Three main types of fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. These fuels are formed depending the amount of animal and plant matter, how long it has been underground, and the temperature and pressure applied to the matter over time. Fossil fuels are combustible and release energy when they are burned. They are reformulated into gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating oil. Additionally, they are burned to generate electricity. From 1900 to 2015, fossil fuels accounted for at least 80 percent of total U.S. energy consumption, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Background[edit]

An aerial view of oil and natural gas wells in Texas

Coal is a black to brown sedimentary rock composed of hydrocarbons. After coal is mined, it is readily combustible and thus can be used as an energy source without any refining, unlike petroleum. Coal use in the United States increased throughout the 19th century as coal replaced wood as a source of fuel. Trains and steamships in the 19th century began using coal to power their boilers. By 1875, coke (a substance made from coal) replaced charcoal in steel-making. Beginning in the 1880s, coal was used to generate electricity.^[8][9]

Petroleum (also known as crude oil) is a naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbons in liquid form. After it is extracted, crude oil is used as a transportation fuel, a heating source for buildings, a source of electricity generation, road oil, and a resource used to make plastics and other synthetic materials. The first U.S. petroleum well was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859. The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company of Connecticut was established to drill for oil around Titusville, Pennsylvania, after oil was found floating on the surface of a nearby body of water. In 1867, John D. Rockefeller established in 1867 what would become the Standard Oil Company. The Standard Oil Company became the largest oil refining company in Pennsylvania by 1870. By 1880, the United States accounted for 85 percent of global oil production.^[10][11]

Natural gas is burned to generate electricity, heat buildings, fuel vehicles, heat water, and power furnaces in industrial facilities. Throughout the 19th century, natural gas was used primarily as lamp fuel. In 1855, Robert Bunsen invented the Bunsen burner, a device that combines natural gas with certain levels of air to produce hotter flames. The burner was a forerunner of gas-powered stoves and furnaces. Beginning in the 1940s, natural gas pipeline construction increased as construction became more economical.^[12][13]

Uses of fossil fuel[edit]

• Coal is primarily used to generate electricity. Coal is burned to produce steam, which powers turbines to generate electricity. In 2015, coal accounted for 33 percent of total U.S. electricity generation. Other industries use coal and coal byproducts. Steelmakers bake coal in furnaces to produce coke, which is used to produce iron and thus steel. Concrete and paper producers burn coal to generate heat. Coal is also turned into gases or liquids for use as fuel or in chemical processing.^[14]

• Natural gas is used to generate electricity, produce heat, and manufacture products. Power plants burn natural gas to generate electricity, and larger industrial facilities use natural gas for heating as well as producing chemicals and fertilizers. Homes use natural gas to heat buildings and water, to cook food, and to dry clothes. Businesses and commercial buildings burn natural gas for refrigeration, cooling, and outdoor lighting. Natural gas can also be used as a vehicle fuel if it is compressed or liquified.^[15][16]

• Petroleum is refined into fuel, such as gasoline, and other petroleum products. As of 2015, gasoline was the main petroleum product used in the United States and accounted for approximately 47 percent of total U.S. petroleum consumption. A 42-gallon barrel of crude oil is refined to produce approximately 19 gallons of gasoline for use as an engine fuel in motor vehicles. Other petroleum products include distillate fuels, such as diesel fuel and heating oil, and hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGLs), which include propane, ethane, and butane. Diesel engines in trains, boats, trucks, buses, construction equipment, and electricity generators burn diesel fuel for energy. Heating oil is burned in boilers and furnaces to produce heat for homes, businesses, and industrial facilities. HGLs can be used at natural gas processing plants, oil refineries, and in the petrochemical industry. One type of HGL, propane, is burned for space and water heating, cooking, crop drying, and clothes drying.^[17][18]

Reserves[edit]

As of 2015, the United States had 477 billion short tons of demonstrated coal reserves, 32.3 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, and 388.8 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.^[19][20][21]

The chart below compares coal, oil, and natural gas reserves in the United States to 17 other countries with the highest valued reserves in 2015, according to data from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy collected by the World Energy Council. The data below is for the year 2015 unless otherwise noted.^[22]

Production[edit]

In 2015, the United States produced approximately 896.9 million short tons of coal. In 2016, the United States produced approximately 3.24 billion barrels of crude oil and approximately 26.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas.^[23][24][25]

Coal[edit]

See also: Coal

The map below shows the location of all coal mines in the continental United States as of 2015.

Coal mines in the continental United States as of 2015.

The chart below shows total U.S. coal production from 2001 to 2015.^[26]

Total U.S. coal production from 2001 to 2015

The table below shows the top five coal producing states in the United States in 2015.^[27]

Petroleum[edit]

See also: Crude oil

The chart below shows total U.S. crude oil production from 1859 to 2016, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.^[28]

Total U.S. crude oil production from 1859 to 2016.

The table below shows the top five crude oil-producing states in the United States in 2016.^[29]

Natural gas[edit]

The chart below shows total U.S. natural gas production from 1936 to 2016, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.^[30]

Total U.S. natural gas production from 1936 to 2016

The table below shows the top five natural gas-producing states in the United States in 2015.^[31]

Consumption[edit]

In 2015, the United States consumed approximately 797.7 million short tons of coal, 7.12 billion barrels of petroleum, and 27.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.^[32]

Coal[edit]

The chart below shows total U.S. coal consumption from 1949 to 2016 by sector.^[33]

Total U.S. coal consumption by sector (1949-2016)

The table below shows the top-five coal consuming states in 2015.

Petroleum[edit]

The chart below shows total U.S. petroleum consumption from 1981 to 2016.^[34]

Total U.S. product supplied of crude oil and petroleum products (1981-2016)

The table below shows the top five states in motor vehicle gasoline (which is refined from petroleum) consumption in 2016.

Natural gas[edit]

The chart below shows total U.S. natural gas consumption from 1949 to 2016.^[35]

Total U.S. natural gas consumption (1949-2016)

The table below shows the top five states in natural gas consumption in 2015.

See also[edit]

• 

  Oil

• 

  Natural gas

• 

  Coal

• 

  Glossary of energy terms

Footnotes[edit]

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