ENVIRON 201 Chapter 19: Chapter 19
1 Dec 2016
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Environ 201- chapter 19: fossil fuels, their impacts, and energy conservation. Oil (tar) sands: deposits that can be mined from the ground, consisting of moist sand and clay containing 1-20% bitumen. Oil sand represents crude oil deposits that have been degraded and chemically altered by water erosion and bacterial decomposition. Widely envisioned as a replacement for crude oil as this resource is depleted. Fossil fuels: a nonrenewable energy resource, such as crude oil, natural gas, or coal, produced by the decomposition and compression of organic matter from ancient life. Electricity: a secondary form of energy that can be transferred over long distances and applied for a variety of uses. Net energy: the quantitative difference between energy returned from a process and energy invested in the process. Positive net energy values mean that a process produces more energy than is invested.
