EESA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Fossil Fuel, Nuclear Power, Geothermal Heating
1 Dec 2016
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Eesa01h3 f: lecture 11 - atmospheric pollution and non-renewable energy. Fossil fuels come from the tissues of organisms that lived 100-500 million years ago. Old organic matter that has been compressed and buried. This organic matter is only partially broken down in an anaerobic environment. It is technically a renewable energy source, but is on an extremely low renewal cycle. Kerogen: is an oil precursor formed from millions of years of organic matter decomposition. Can become coal, oil, or natural gas. Geothermal heating alters kerogen physically and chemically to form various fossil fuels. The type depends on the chemistry of the original organic matter, temperature, pressure, microbe communities and time. In marine environments you end up with more oil and natural gas. Coal is formed from peat deposits laid down 300-400 million years ago and put under intense pressure with little digestion or decomposer action. Coal is a rock and provides about 1/4th of the world"s total energy consumption.
