Alternative Fuel World

Natural gas is a gaseious fossil fuel consisiting primarily of methane and including amounts of ethane, propane, butane and pentane. Natural gas is also discussed under the “Geothermal Energy” article.

Natural gas can be found in oil fields, dissolved or isolaed natural gas fields, and in coal beds. When methane rich gases are produced by the decay of non-fossil organic material, they are referred to as biogas. Biogas can be found in swamps, marshes, and landfills, sewage sludge and manure by using anaerobic digesters and enteric fermentation in cattle.

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Coal is a combustible black sedimentary rock composed mostly of carbon and hydrocarbons. Its the most abundant fossil fuel produced in the United States. The carbon is compressed over millions and billions of years in the Earths soil.

Coal is a non-renewable energy source because it takes millions of years to create and we’re consuming more every year than whats being produced. The energy in coal comes from the energy stored by the plants and animals that lived millions and billions of years ago. Think back to some of the first life forms that were on the planet.

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More people are becoming concerned about the environmental impacts of using coal for energy.

Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas are non-renewable source of energy. The fossil fuels are formed from animals and plants that lived up to 500 million years ago and have been covered over time in the Earth’s soil deep below the surface.

The fossil fuels are burned to release their chemical energy that they store. It comes as a surprise to many humans that fossil fuels currently compose close to 85% of the energy consumption in the world today.

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Methane Hydrate or sometimes also referred to as methane ice and methane calthrate, is a solid form of water that contains a large amount of methane within itself. Methane Hydrate was originally thought to be only available at the far reaches of our solar system where tempertures are low, and water ice is common, recently significant amounts of the methane ice have been uncovered in under the sediments on ocean floors.

The methane gas from these ice deposits is similar to the methane produced when garbage decomposes. Capturing the gas, and filtering it thru a pipeline to production facilites is a difficult task due to the extreme depths of the gas, and the pressure at the bottom of the ocean floors.

Geothermal energy is energy obtained by tapping the heat of the earth itself, usually from kilometers deep into the Earth’s crust. It is expensive to build a power station but operating costs are low resulting in low energy costs for suitable sites. Ultimately, this energy derives from heat in the Earth’s core.

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