General characteristics, geographical and statistic data, SWOT analysis, problem solving, future vision
Name of student: ROBERTO LANDI
Country: ITALY
Date: 03/06/2020
FOSSIL FUELS
1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
A fossil fuel is a fuel formed by natural processes, such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead
organisms, containing organic molecules originating in ancient photosynthesis that release energy in
combustion. Such organisms and their resulting fossil fuels typically have an age of millions of years,
and sometimes more than 650 million years.
Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include petroleum, coal, and natural gas.
Commonly used derivatives of fossil fuels include kerosene and propane. Fossil fuels range from
volatile materials with low carbon-to-hydrogen ratios (like methane), to liquids (like petroleum), to
nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon, like anthracite coal. Methane can be found in
hydrocarbon fields alone, associated with oil, or in the form of methane clathrates.
Although fossil fuels are continually formed by natural processes, they are generally classified as non–
renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and known viable reserves are being
depleted much faster than new ones are generated.
The systematic use of fossil fuels dates back to the end of the 18th century with the beginning of the
industrial revolution in Europe and North America, with the strong increase in energy demand from
industries; until the 1950s the energy requirement was mainly satisfied by the use of coal. The very birth
of the English industrial revolution was favored by the presence of numerous mineral deposits,
exploitable in the national territory, and the use of coal for the treatment of iron ores began in the early
eighteenth century.
The use of fossil fuels as the main energy resource increased significantly in the twentieth century, in
the second half of which the affirmation of oil as the main energy source was observed, compared to
coal that is too polluting and in many cases economically more burdensome in the together with the
costs of extraction and transport to the end user; it is estimated that in 1955 fossil fuels contributed to
52% of the world’s energy needs, and their contribution grew to 64% in 1970.
2. GEOGRAPHICAL AND STATISTICAL DATA
Geographical distribution
– Distribution of coal reserves: the main reserves are located in the United States, Western
Europe (United Kingdom, Belgium, France and Germany), countries of the former Soviet
Union, Poland, China, Australia, Japan and India. Coal reserves as a whole constitute the largest
accumulation of fossil fuels still available for exploitation. In coal deposits it is possible, in some
cases, the recovery of natural gas associated with carboniferous levels (CBM) and today the
possibility of recovering this gas is also evaluated in coal deposits that are not economically
exploitable for coal extraction and the combination the exploitation of this gas with
underground storage of carbon dioxide.
– Distribution of petroleum reserves: the geography of current oil reserves is evolving due to
the exploitation and therefore depletion of many deposits located in areas that have long been
exploited. In 2005 it was calculated that approximately 27% of the oil in the market came from
areas whose oil reserves were decreasing, including the US and offshore North Sea fields (in
English, Dutch and Norwegian waters). In other countries, economic growth is such as to
transform them from oil exporters to importers, such as China. The largest conventional oil
accumulations (about 60% of the world’s reserves) are located in the Middle Eastern area (Saudi
Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Syria, United Arab Emirates) and due to their size they are believed
to be the last to be run out. Other regions of the world with large oil basins include Nigeria and
the Nigerian and Angolan Atlantic offshore, Venezuela and the Caspian Sea area. To date, a
total of around 900-1000 billion barrels have been extracted, while the reserves that can still be
extracted are around 1000-1500 billion barrels.
– Distribution of natural gas reserves: the largest gas field is located in Groningen in the
Netherlands, large gas reserves are found in Siberia and Algeria. Other gas reserves are
associated with oil in oil fields spread all over the world. At the beginning of the 19th century,
the scenario of world gas reserves changed due to the beginning of the massive exploitation of
shale gas. However, for gas there is the big problem of transporting it from the place of
extraction to that of use, and this today makes the marketability, and therefore the exploitation,
of large volumes of gas that would be extractable and available in areas logistically far from
potential gas use centers. To overcome these limitations, gas liquefaction projects are under
development. Research on the possible exploitation of the “methane hydrates” along the
margins of the continental oceanic platform is under preliminary exploration. In March 2013,
the first test of gas production from methane hydrate deposits present in marine sediments was
carried out in the Nankai pit off the coast of Japan with a special vessel for offshore drilling.
The test, which lasted six days, produced about 120,000 m³ of methane gas, released by the
hydrate due to the pressure reduction obtained with the pump at the bottom of the well,
through a well that penetrated for about 300 meters into the sediments on the seabed, with an
overlying free head of water of about 1000 meters.
World total primary energy consumption
As of 2018, the world’s main primary energy sources consisted of petroleum (34%), coal (27%), and
natural gas (24%), amounting to an 85% share for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the
world. Non-fossil sources included nuclear (4.4%), hydroelectric (6.8%), and other renewables (4.0%,
including geothermal, solar, tidal, wind, wood, and waste). The share of renewables (including
traditional biomass) in the world’s total final energy consumption was 18% in 2018. Compared with
2017, world energy-consumption grew at a rate of 2.9%, almost double its 10-year average of 1.5% per
year, and the fastest since 2010.
Trends in energy consumption
The energy consumption growth in the G20 slowed down to 2% in 2011, after the strong increase of
2010. The economic crisis is largely responsible for this slow growth. For several years now, the world
energy demand is characterized by the bullish Chinese and Indian markets, while developed countries
struggle with stagnant economies, high oil prices, resulting in stable or decreasing energy consumption.
According to IEA data from 1990 to 2008, the average energy use per person increased 10% while
world population increased 27%. Regional energy use also grew from 1990 to 2008: the Middle East
increased by 170%, China by 146%, India by 91%, Africa by 70%, Latin America by 66%, the US by
20%, the EU-27 block by 7%, and world overall grew by 39%. In 2008, total worldwide primary energy
consumption was 132,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) or 474 exajoules (EJ). In 2012, primary energy
demand increased to 158,000 TWh (567 EJ). Energy consumption in the G20 increased by more than
5% in 2010 after a slight decline of 2009. In 2009, world energy consumption decreased for the first
time in 30 years by 1.1%, or about 130 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe), as a result of the
financial and economic crisis, which reduced world GDP by 0.6% in 2009.
Global fossil fuel consumption
Overall, we see that global consumption of fossil energy has increased more than 1300-fold. Coal was
the first and only fossil source until the 1860s when crude oil consumption began. Natural gas
production began a couple of decades later, in the 1880-90s. The 20th century saw a large
diversification of fossil energy consumption, with coal declining from 96 percent of total production in
1900 to less than 30 percent in 2000. Today, crude oil is the largest energy source, accounting for
around 39 percent of fossil energy, followed by coal and natural gas at 33 and 28 percent, respectively.
Coal: In 2000, China accounted for 28% of world coal consumption, other Asia consumed 19%, North
America 25% and the EU 14%. The single greatest coal-consuming country is China. Its share of the
world coal production was 28% in 2000 and rose to 48% in 2009. In contrast to China’s ~70% increase
in coal consumption, world coal use increased 48% from 2000 to 2009. In practice, the majority of this
growth occurred in China and the rest in other Asia. China’s energy consumption is mostly driven by
the industry sector, the majority of which comes from coal consumption. World annual coal
production increased 1,905 Mt or 32% in 6 years in 2011 compared to 2005, of which over 70% was in
China and 8% in India. Coal production was in 2011 7,783 Mt, and 2009 6,903 Mt, equal to 12.7%
production increase in two years. If production and consumption of coal continue at the rate as in
2008, proven and economically recoverable world reserves of coal would last for about 150 years. This
is much more than needed for an irreversible climate catastrophe. Coal is the largest source of carbon
dioxide emissions in the world. According to James Hansen the single most important action needed to
tackle the climate crisis is to reduce CO2 emissions from coal. Indonesia and Australia exported
together 57.1% of the world coal export in 2011. China, Japan, South Korea, India and Taiwan had
65% share of all the world coal import in 2011.
Oil: Coal fueled the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th century. With the advent of the
automobile, aeroplanes and the spreading use of electricity, oil became the dominant fuel during the
twentieth century. The growth of oil as the largest fossil fuel was further enabled by steadily dropping
prices from 1920 until 1973. After the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, during which the price of oil
increased from 5 to 45 US dollars per barrel, there was a shift away from oil. Coal, natural gas, and
nuclear became the fuels of choice for electricity generation and conservation measures increased
energy efficiency. In the U.S. the average car more than doubled the number of miles per gallon. Japan,
which bore the brunt of the oil shocks, made spectacular improvements and now has the highest
energy efficiency in the world. From 1965 to 2008, the use of fossil fuels has continued to grow and
their share of the energy supply has increased. From 2003 to 2008, coal was the fastest growing fossil
fuel. It is estimated that between 100 and 135 billion tonnes of oil has been consumed between 1850
and the present.
Under this definition, total world oil production in 2019 averaged 80,622,000 barrels per day.
Approximately 68% came from the top ten countries, and an overlapping 44% came from the fourteen
current OPEC members, in the table below. The top three producers have in recent history been
(alphabetically) Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Each of these countries experienced major
production declines at different times in the past, but since 2014 all three have been producing near
their peak rates of 9 to 11 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia and Russia also top the list of oil
exporting countries. The monthly U.S. oil production reached 10.07 million b/d in November 2017,
the highest monthly level of crude oil production in U.S. history. In May of 2019, the country became a
net oil and gas exporter, the first time since 1953.
Natural gas: In 2009, the world use of natural gas grew 31% compared to 2000. 66% of this growth
was outside EU, North America, Latin America, and Russia. Others include the Middle East, Asia, and
Africa. The gas supply increased also in the previous regions: 8.6% in the EU and 16% in the North
America 2000–2009.
Global fossil fuel production
Coal production by region (1981 to 2018): The majority of growth in global coal production has been
sourced from the Asia Pacific region, with 5 to 6-fold growth over the last 30 years. Total output from
Europe, Eurasia and North America has declined during this period. Asia Pacific now produces more
than 70 percent of coal, up from around one-quarter in 1981.
Coal production by country (1700 to 2017): Most countries have series data back to the year 1900,
with some such as the United Kingdom dating back to 1700. The United Kingdom was the first large-
scale coal producer – we see its long-run trend growing, peaking just prior to the First World War, and
its gradual decline throughout the 20th century. Its production levels are now comparable to those at
the beginning of the 1700s. Today, China dominates global coal production, accounting for nearly half
of total output. This growth has been rapid since the 1960-70s. However, Chinese coal production
appears to have peaked, with continued decline in the years since. This decline is likely to have been a
key contributor to the apparent global peak in 2013.
Oil production by region (1965 to 2018): Global oil production is much more equally distributed
across the world’s regions. Unlike coal production (for which it produces a negligible amount), the
Middle East is the world’s largest oil producer, accounting for nearly 35 percent. The relative
contribution of region’s to the global total has remained generally consistent over the last 50 years, with
Europe & Eurasia and North America both accounting for around 20 percent of total production, and
Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America & the Caribbean all producing between 8-9 percent. Global oil
production has increased more than 2.5-fold over the last 50 years, despite more volatile growth relative
to coal. The 1970s ‘oil crisis’ resulted in a sudden drop in consumption between 1973-74 following an
oil embargo of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1973. This was
followed by another oil shock in 1979 (following the Iranian Revolution) and an ‘oil glut’ in the early
1980s where there was a surplus of crude oil (as a result of reduced consumer demand following the
energy crisis of the 1970s)
Oil production by country (1900 to 2014): In 2014, the United States is the world’s largest country
producer of oil, accounting for just under one-fifth of global production. Saudi Arabia is the world’s
second largest producer, followed by Russia. Types of oil production have influenced the shapes of
these trends over time. As explored later in this entry, oil production in the United States looked likely
to peak and decline in the 1980s before rising again with the extraction of increasing numbers of shale
oil resources.
Natural gas production by region (1970 to 2018): The regional distribution of natural gas production
has changed significantly in recent decades. In 1970, North America, Europe & Eurasia accounted for
almost all global gas production (with more than 95 percent combined). Despite both regions growing
in absolute terms, their share of global production has declined significantly as regional production has
diversified. North America, Europe & Eurasia’s share of production has decreased to around 55
percent, with the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa accounting for 18, 16, 6 and 5,
percent respectively. Overall, natural gas production has nearly quadrupled over the last 40-50 years.
Natural gas production by country (1922 to 2014): The United States is the world’s largest single
producer of natural gas producer, accounting for approximately one-fifth of global production. The
USA is followed by Russia, Iran, Canada, China and Saudi Arabia which all produce more than 1000
TWh per year.
Emission factors of fossil fuels
Fossil fuels can have short-term (in the form of local air pollution) and long-term (in the form of
climatic change) environmental impacts. Fossil fuels – being the dominant source of global energy
production – are a key source of carbon dioxide (CO2).
However, fossil fuels can vary significantly in their relative emissions of CO2 per unit energy. To
compare these differences, we use a metric called a ‘carbon dioxide emissions factor’ – which is shown
for various fossil fuel sources in the chart. This is measured as the quantity of CO2 emitted (in
kilograms) per unit of energy produced (in megawatt-hours). These factors are defined by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and are applied across global and national
accounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
Although there can be notable differences in emissions factors between different types of a given fuel
(for example, differences in coal types), there are some more general trends in the relative emissions
between coal, oil and gas. Typically coal produces the most CO2 per unit energy, followed by oil (which
is about one-third lower than coal), and natural gas (which can produce around half the emissions of
coal).
As a result, coal is often termed the most polluting of the fossil fuels. Several countries – the largest
example being the United States – have therefore achieved carbon dioxide reductions in recent years by
substituting coal production in its energy supply with natural gas.
3) SWOT ANALYSIS
Strenghts
Fossil fuels are of great importance because they can be burned (oxidized to carbon dioxide and water),
producing significant amounts of energy per unit mass. The use of coal as a fuel predates recorded
history. Coal was used to run furnaces for the smelting of metal ore. While semi-solid hydrocarbons
from seeps were also burned in ancient times, they were mostly used for waterproofing and embalming.
Commercial exploitation of petroleum began in the 19th century, largely to replace oils from animal
sources (notably whale oil) for use in oil lamps. Natural gas, once flared-off as an unneeded byproduct
of petroleum production, is now considered a very valuable resource. Natural gas deposits are also the
main source of helium. Heavy crude oil, which is much more viscous than conventional crude oil, and
oil sands, where bitumen is found mixed with sand and clay, began to become more important as
sources of fossil fuel in the early 2000s. Oil shale and similar materials are sedimentary rocks containing
kerogen, a complex mixture of high-molecular weight organic compounds, which yield synthetic crude
oil when heated (pyrolyzed). With additional processing, they can be employed in lieu of other
established fossil fuels. Prior to the latter half of the 18th century, windmills and watermills provided
the energy needed for industry such as milling flour, sawing wood or pumping water, while burning
wood or peat provided domestic heat.
The wide-scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, in steam engines enabled the
Industrial Revolution. At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas were coming into
wide use. The invention of the internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles and trucks greatly
increased the demand for gasoline and diesel oil, both made from fossil fuels. Other forms of
transportation, railways and aircraft, also require fossil fuels. The other major use for fossil fuels is in
generating electricity and as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Tar, a leftover of petroleum
extraction, is used in construction of roads. Fossil fuels are nowadays the main energy source exploited
by humanity, thanks to some important characteristics:
• They are “compact”, ie they have a high energy/volume ratio
• They are easily transportable (the transportability of natural gas is a function of the distance to
be traveled and the topography of the areas crossed by the pipeline)
• They can be easily stored
• They can be used with relatively simple machines
• They are relatively inexpensive.
The energy industry has historically – and continues to be, in many countries – a large source of
employment. For example, the long-term trends of employment in the coal industry in the United
Kingdom (where large-scale coal production began) from 1873 to 2016. In absolute numbers,
employment in UK coal peaked in 1920, with nearly 1.2 million working in the industry. Since then,
employment has continued to decline, reaching a low of less than one thousand workers in 2016.
We can also visualise changes in coal employment by plotting the numbers in UK coal as a share of the
total UK workforce. Due to changes in the total workforce numbers, UK employment peaked slightly
later in percentage terms, peaking at nearly six percent in 1924. This has declined to a low of less than
0.01 percent in 2016. In the 1920s, 1 in every 20 workers in the UK were employed in the coal industry.
In 2016, this has reached a low of only 1 in every 40,000 workers.
In particular, these last two economic characteristics have triggered a mechanism for the design and
construction of machinery and support systems and infrastructures for this technology, based on the
use of fossil fuels, which has made their use even more economically interesting, causing the
development of machines that can exploit alternative energy sources is still very slow and scarcely
stimulating until the recent past.
Weaknesses
They have important disadvantages:
• They are polluting, even if with the use of modern machines this problem has been
considerably reduced. One form of pollution is given by the diffusion of substances naturally
associated with these fuels into the atmosphere. For example the release of sulfur dioxide (SO2)
responsible for the acid rain phenomenon. A classic example of serious pollution are accidents
where oil spills occur. The extraction of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil also entails the
spillage of pollutants into water and soil. The same happens in the use of petroleum derivatives
such as fertilizers, pesticides, plastics released into the environment. WHO estimates that
600,000 premature deaths a year are caused by air pollution in Europe, 7 million worldwide.
• Their use leads to an increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, a gas that is not
directly polluting, but today considered to be the main defendant of global warming. Global
warming intensifies the frequency of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts,
hurricanes causing enormous damage and inconvenience to the human population and
agriculture, causes the sea level to rise, the acidification of the oceans, the melting of glaciers.
• They are not renewable resources, given that the process of fossilization of organic matter is
extremely long and the quantity that is fossilized today is negligible compared to the energy
needs of the society in which we live.
• There are enormous military costs incurred to keep the extraction and transportation of oil in
“hot” areas of the globe safe. In addition, numerous wars are incurred precisely in order to gain
control or at least access to these resources.
• Although natural gas burns cleaner than other fossil fuels and produces less NOx, SOx and
particulates, it is less available and is difficult and expensive to transport and, in addition, CO2
is still produced.
This entails a progressive depletion of the deposits and therefore of the available stocks, against a
