Fossil Fuel Consumption: United States and China

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1 Fossil Fuel : and Name Per. 1. Go to the Energy Information Administration s website at and open up each category under. Select World, and the and set the range of dates for the most recent decade (i.e ). For CO 2 Emission, look under Indicators, and World must be done separately from and the US. Fill in the chart for each of the categories. Indicate whether the energy category has grown, declined, or stayed stable in the past decade (look at the little graphs). Also indicate the degree of growth (i.e. strong or mild growth/decline). Energy Type Total Annual Primary Energy (Quadrillion BTU) Annual Total Petroleum (Thousand barrels/day) Dry Natural Gas (Billion cubic feet) Total Coal (thousand short tons) Net Electricity Total Electric Power (billion kilowatt-hours) CO 2 Emissions (million metric tons) 10 years ago World Level of 10 years Most Level of Growth or ago Recent Growth or Decline year decline Most recent year Most Recent Year Analysis 2. : A. Which fossil fuel(s) show a decrease in the past decade? Give two factors that might have caused this decrease.

2 B. Which fossil fuel shows the greatest growth in consumption? Give an advantage and disadvantage of using this fossil fuel, compared to the other two fossil fuels. C. The CO 2 emissions show a decline over the past decade, yet our total energy consumption is up. Describe three possible reasons that would explain these trends. 3. : A. By what factor (how many times) did s Total Energy increase over the past decade? B. By what factor did s CO 2 emissions increase over the past decade? C. What does your answers to 3A and 3B imply about what types of energy sources is using to meet its increased energy needs? D. In which categories did surpass the in the past decade? 4. Total Energy : A. The total annual primary energy consumption is given in the units of quadrillion BTU s. How big is a quadrillion? B. Calculate the per capita total energy consumption for and the. s population in the most recent year was billion people, and the population was million. Give your answer in BTU s/person. : : C. How many times more energy did the average US resident use compared to the average Chinese resident?

3 5. Petroleum : A. What percentage of the world s total consumption does and US make up? B. s population in 2013 was billion people and the US population million people. Calculate the per capita consumption of oil per year by and the US. Give your answer in barrels per day. Note that the consumption is given to you in thousand barrels per day. C. Look up the Petroleum Reserves for 2013: billion barrels Look up the petroleum usage: thousand barrels per day Calculate how many years will our proven reserves of oil last? (Note: you have to convert the thousand barrels/day to barrels/yr) Hint: start with the reserves of Petroleum in barrels D. Why do you think this value is not a large concern for the at this time? 6. Coal : A. Calculate the percentage of world coal consumption and the made up for the most recent year? : : B. How many times more coal did use compared to the? C. Calculate the per capita coal consumption for and the. s population in the most recent year was billion people, and the population was million. Give your answer in short tonnes/person. Note: the unit for coal is thousand short tonnes, so you will need to multiply your answer by 1000.

4 D. How does the per capita coal consumption compare? Given your answer to question 4C regarding how much higher the per capita total energy usage is in the compared to, what does this imply about the reliance of each country on coal for their energy needs? E. What would be another way to see the relative reliance on coal as an energy source? F. Calculate the percentage increase or decrease in coal consumption over one decade for and the United States. Compare the previous year to the latest year. Percentage change = Recent Year Previous Decade x 100 Previous Decade : G. What do you think accounts for the percentage increase or decrease for the US? Cite evidence for your H. What do you think accounts for the percentage increase or decrease for? Cite evidence for your 7. Coal Sources and Issues in and the : A. Find the amount of coal imported and exported for and the for the most recent year: Coal Imported (thousand short tonnes) Coal Exported (thousand short tonnes) Net Import/Export

5 B. In addition to the greenhouse gas emission issues with burning coal, has also struggled with pollution created by burning coal with a high sulfur and ash content. What new regulations is putting in place, starting in 2015? List the new requirements for both domestic and imported coal. Why do you think there is such a difference in acceptable levels between domestic and imported coal? C. There are two ways to extract coal when it is buried underneath other layers of rock. Conventional underground coal mining involves digging a mine shaft and then having workers excavate the underground coal and bring it to the surface. Another practice is called mountaintop removal, and is common in the Appalachian Mountains. i) Describe and advantage and disadvantage to conventional underground coal mining. Cite evidence for your ii) Describe an advantage and disadvantage to mountaintop removal. Cite evidence for your