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Types of Carbon Fuels
Coal, Oil & Natural Gas Are The Major Fossil Fuel Sources of Energy
Any discussion of carbon fuels tends to carry the assumption they are all the same. There are, however, many different types of carbon fuels comprising this energy source.
Types of Carbon-Based Fossil Fuels
While all carbon fuels are generally used for the same purpose, producing energy, there are different types of carbon fuels. Carbon fuels are the hydrocarbon fuels that are found underneath within the Earth. They were produced millions of years ago during the Carboniferous period of history. These fuels are very important to the Earth’s population, as most of our energy is produced by their burning. Formed from decayed plant and animal matter that was both compressed and heated underground, carbon fuels are a non-renewable resource because they are no longer being created.
The three major types of carbon fuels are coal, oil and natural gas. Coal has been used for thousands of years since cavemen first began burning it to heat their caves and cook their food. A solid, shiny black substance, coal is a carbon based fuel that became especially important in the 1800s when both the industrial revolution and the locomotive combustion engine relied on its use. Machinery, as well as transportation, grew quickly once coal was found to be a portable and easy to use power source.
Coal
Generally, the hardest types of coal, bituminous and anthracite, are used in the burning of coal. These forms of coal are fairly prevalent. They are mined by strip mining or digging down into coal veins with the raw material then being transported to the surface for refinement. Coal is not clean burning, very efficient or environmentally friendly. The material is also very hazardous to the miners given the dangerous work environment and the coal dust that imbeds in their lungs.
Oil (Petroleum)
Oil is the most widely used of the types of carbon fuels. Oil (petroleum) is found in natural reservoirs underneath the Earth’s surface. Pumps and piping are drilled down underground to reach these stores of oil, and then it is pumped up to the surface. Crude oil is then refined for use as heating oil, gasoline and many other combustible fuels. Oil’s portability and easy to burn properties make it an excellent source of energy. The burning of oil has a number of drawbacks. It produces significant air pollutants and carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas. Furthermore, oil reserves are not spread equally over the planet, giving rise to political and military tensions associated with the control of the resource.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is the last prevalent carbon fuel we use in modern society. While oil and coal formed the backbone of the industrial revolution, natural gas has become more of a player recently. Natural gas is primarily comprised of methane, another greenhouse gas. Natural gas is found in many of the same places as oil and coal, but was not originally a popular energy resource due to transportation and a lack of stability. In fact, it was simply burned off using flaring pipes in many oil fields. With modern advances, natural gas is now much easier to control as it is reduced to a liquefied form for transportation. In fact, flaring of natural gas is no illegal in many countries. As with oil, natural gas has many problems related to the production of greenhouse gases and the fact it is found in abundance in only a few countries such as Iran. While oil gets much of the attention, natural gas reserves are actually under much more stress.
The different types of carbon fuels used in the world today are fast being depleted. With the economies of countries such as India and China growing at shocking rates, the demand will only increase. This will putt the different types of carbon fuels under more stress and inevitably lead to political and military conflict.
Rick Chapo is with Solar Companies - a directory of solar energy companies.
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Declare Independence From Foreign Oil By Choosing A Hybrid
Energy Security Through Fuel-Saving Hybrid Cars and Hybrid SUVs
by Gregg Hall
Energy is such a valuable part of our everyday lives but sometimes we are not as aware of it as we should be. Hybrid cars are excellent at conserving energy and not polluting the environment further with nauseous gases. It is estimated that a hybrid car can reduce in the area of ninety percent or more of smog pollution, as compared to the cleanest non-hybrid cars on the road today. Since our country has an increasing independence on energy, we are fast becoming high on the concept of hybrids!
Interesting to note is that the very first hybrid vehicle to burst onto the U.S. market came about in 1999 with the production of the Honda Insight. This first hybrid model was powered electrically and could go 70 mpg on the highway and 61 mpg in the city. Following closely on the heels of that model was the debut of the Toyota Prius in 2000. This hybrid car was capable of reaching speeds of 45 mpg on the highway and 52 mpg within city limits. In 2002 the Honda Civic Hybrid took shape, to much success. This vehicle could go 51 mpg on the open highway and 46 mpg in the city. There were more hybrid vehicles to come. The first full-size pickup hybrids made their appearance in 2004. These were the Dodge Ram and the Chevy Silverado. 2004 saw the first SUV hybrid hit the streets in the form of the Ford Escape.
Hybrid cars are powered by two sources- gasoline and electric, and contain smaller, more fuel-efficient engines than their non-hybrid counterparts. They are also equipped with a battery for longer life. Energy efficiency is made possible in hybrids due to the use of lighter materials to build the automobiles. The lighter parts are made possible when less numbers of cylinders are used and engines are operated at a load of maximum capacity. When cars are equipped with large engines this makes them automatically heavier while the opposite is true for smaller engines. When a car has a heavy engine it is burdensome and it requires a great deal more energy to drive up hills and also to accelerate to higher speeds. The harder a car has to work, the more energy is used up, much the same way people are when it comes to work and tasks such as shoveling snow or doing housework. More difficult tasks require more energy than lighter tasks.
Non-hybrid cars with large engines also have heavier internal machinery, such as pistons. More time and energy are needed for them to make the trip both up and down in the cylinder, which expends an extra amount of energy. Speaking of cylinders, in a non-hybrid car there are generally more cylinders therefore more fuel is used to fire the engine. This is also the case even if the car is stationary. Another thing about cylinders is that in cars with heavier engines the displacement of the cylinders is greater making it necessary for more fuel to be required by each individual cylinder. This exerts a lot of energy output, which is not a good thing. Perhaps this explains why hybrid cars are becoming more and more attractive to drivers.
To optimize mileage and energy output in a hybrid car you can observe three special driving tips- slow down, keep your car at a constant speed and try to avoid sudden, abrupt stops. Did you know that the aerodynamic drag on a vehicle increases tremendously the faster speeds you drive? It does. Learn to drive at a slower speed and you will increase your mileage, and save on energy a great deal. Accelerating and then slowing down constantly wastes energy needlessly. Try to get into a habit of maintaining a constant, steady speed and you will use your hybrid’s fuel much more efficiently. Not stopping or braking suddenly is the last important tip. Sometimes this cannot be avoided but try not to make a habit of it. In a hybrid vehicle the electric motor works much like a generator, energy is lost when the car is in the process of slowing down. More energy can be saved if the car is given more of a recovery time when slowing down and stopping. When you stop suddenly and abruptly the onus is on your brakes to do much of the work and in this way, precious energy is lost.
Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. Get quality car care products at http://www.5starshine.com
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Alternative Energy Investments
Energy Sector Investing in Markets Other Than Oil Holds Promise for Lucrative Returns
By George Orwel
The oil market is not the only one looking up. Alternative fuel stocks are also attracting many investors. Because oil and gas are expensive, Americans are looking for cheaper nonfossil fuel and that demand is boosting the alternative fuel stocks as well. This is especially good for anyone who cares for the environment — the greens. If you consider yourself an environmentalist or a preservationist, this is perfect for you, for you are now able to support efforts to preserve the environment while at the same time profiting from those efforts. It’s a win-win situation. Consider this: Pacific Ethanol Inc., a small ethanol-producing company started in 2003 by Bill Jones, the former secretary of state for the state of California, has trebled its stock price on NASDAQ to about $30 a share within a year of going public in March of 2005. Like many other similar renewable fuel start-ups, millions of dollars in private equity money are being thrown at Pacific Ethanol like the world is coming to an end. Billionaire Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, is one of those investing in renewable fuel stocks. Gates’ investment company, Cascade Investment, has agreed to pump $84 million in Pacific Ethanol.
The U.S. government has recognized alternative fuel as the fuel for the future and has included a number of tax incentives in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the energy law signed in the summer of 2005, to spur growth in the alternative fuel sector. If you haven’t already, you should give alternative stocks a try as it will make you feel morally stronger. It’s been nearly three decades since efforts to promote alternative fuel floundered after the 1973 oil crisis, but it’s making a comeback. Still, alternative fuel remains a small industry, with small cap companies dominating. Since 2005, 15 of the 36 companies in the WilderHill Clean Energy index have made huge profits. That includes hydroelectric power and wind energy, solar energy, and fuel cells.
Some of the most successful companies in the renewable fuel sector are huge conglomerates, like General Electric and Germany’s Siemens, and also big oil companies, like BP, that are hedging their bets. Investing in these companies offers a chance to own a clean energy stock. Here’s some information about GE worth knowing: It made close to $2 billion in sales from production of wind-powered turbines in 2005, treble what it made from that business unit in 2002. However, that’s only 1 percent of GE’s revenues.
There’s a lot of hope that alternative fuel technologies developed by some of the smaller companies will become commercially viable and help support the sector. As a result, stocks for these companies are expected to soar. WilderHill Clean Energy Index gained 26 percent in the past 12 months alone, compared with 50 percent for oil. That’s not bad, considering this is not an established sector in the United States.
Moreover, since continued oil supply is uncertain, a lot more consumers are going to turn to coal, which is abundantly available in the United States, China, and India. Coal used to be frowned upon because of its dirt, but technology has improved enough to make it just as clean as other fuels. Shrewd investors could buy shares in U.S. coal producers, including the two biggest, Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal Inc., both based in St. Louis, Missouri. Coal companies have profited from the current oil boom.
Investing in coal doesn’t mean that Big Oil isn’t safe anymore. It only means that you are on much firmer ground when you have a diversified portfolio. If you look at both types of stocks, the difference isn’t large. Exxon Mobil, for instance, returned 36 percent to its shareholders in market appreciation and dividends in 2005 and BP returned 21 percent. Peabody Energy stockholders, meanwhile, did far better in the same time period. They more than doubled their money, and Peabody shares have risen more than three and a half times since the company’s initial public offering in 2001. Arch Coal stock returned 65 percent in 2005 as well.
Coal producers have benefited from increased demand from power plants and steelmakers in the United States, China, and India. Massey Energy Co. of Richmond, Virginia, for instance, said its average selling price for coal used in steel-making jumped 38 percent in 2005. Consol Energy, Inc. of Pittsburgh, the third largest U.S. producer, plans a $500 million mine expansion to keep up with orders.
Soaring prices for natural gas have given coal demand another lift. Many electric power plants have switched from gas to coal, which costs about half as much. In the spring of 2006, Duke Energy Corp. closed on a deal purchasing Cinergy Corp. for about $9 billion, in large part because of Cinergy’s coal-fired plants.
Back to oil, we've also seen that the market has been good to minnows as well. In fact, some smaller oil companies also have outperformed the giants. For instance, Apache Corp. of Houston produced a 12-month total return of 51 percent for its stockholders, helped by increased first-quarter selling prices of 51 percent for crude oil and 11 percent for natural gas. Apache recently bought property from Shell, BP, and Exxon Mobil and its profit rose tremendously in 2005. Oil transport companies have not been left behind. Overseas Shipholding Group of New York made an acquisition in 2005 that made it the world’s second-largest oil tanker company. The bigger fleet, combined with higher tanker rates, boosted the company’s 2005 earnings by about 40 percent. The world’s biggest owner of oil tankers, Teekay Shipping Corp. of Vancouver, Canada, capitalized on high energy prices in yet another way. In the fall of 2005, Teekay raised $132 million through the public sale of a 20 percent interest in Teekay LNG Partners LP, whose ships carry liquefied natural gas and crude oil.
Is it too late to buy energy stocks, large or small? BlackRock, Inc., which manages $391 billion, doesn’t seem to think so. It reported to the SEC in late summer of 2005 that after $870 million in purchases, it owned stakes in Peabody, Arch, Consol, and Massey ranging from 3.3 to 8.8 percent. The money manager also has a 4.7 percent stake in Newfield Exploration Co., an oil-and-gas company that returned 49 percent to its shareholders in 2005.
The bottom line is this: The world needs a lot of energy, but supply is getting tighter; an "überspike" in oil prices is in the making and the potential rewards for the savvy energy investor are huge.
Copyright © 2006 George Orwel
George Orwel is an Oil Analyst and Senior Writer for both the Oil Daily and Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. Previously, he covered the oil market for six years as a staff reporter for Dow Jones Newswires. Orwel has appeared on key media outlets, including CNN, BBC, and NPR, and contributed articles to the Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor, as well as other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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