2. 2
What uses does coal have nowadays?
Burning of coal can create electricity
When coal is made into coke there are many by-
products, such as benzol, ammonium compounds
and tar
Tar is one of the source to produce town-gas in
Hong Kong
3. 3
What are the problems with the use of coal?
1. Mining coal can cause environmental damage:
i. Solid waste produced from mining process,
like silts from stone washing and dust
ii. Collapse of the overlying strata
Damage to buildings, roads, underground
pipes, sewers and cables, and to agriculture
through the disruption of drainage systems
2. Low energy value
increase in the amount of coal used
3. Exhaustion of coal reserves
4. 4
4. Air pollution (local problem):
Smog: Mixture of smoke and fog
cause a health hazard
e.g. London P.8 / Los Angeles
5. Emission of SO2 and NOx gases(Global problem):
Complete combustion
only CO2 and H2O produced
Incomplete combustion and impurities:
Produce ash (contaminated with tarry unburnt
hydrocarbons), SO2 and NOx gases
5. 5
What uses does oil have?
Create valuable fuel products (e.g. petrol and
diesel oil) and petrol-chemical products (e.g.
plastics, fertilizers and detergents)
Farming machines mechanization of farming
Industrial use
Provide energy for the development of basic
infrastructure
6. 6
Provide energy for the extensive transportation
systems and advanced communication networks
Improvement in the living standards
7. 7
What are the problems with the use of oil?
Environmental Problems:
1. Air pollution :
Burning of oil
CO2, NOx,SO2, CO, hydrocarbon would be emitted
i. Illness:
Cause respiratory illnesses:
Asthma, irritate the throat and eyes
ii. Greenhouse effect, acid rain and smog:
Emission of CO2 Greenhouse effect climatic change
SO2 and NO react with rain Acid rain
Smog: Mixture of smoke and fog cause a health
hazard
e.g. : London P.8 of your notes
Los Angeles
8. 8
2. Water pollution
i. Spillage from tankers involved in accidents
e.g. Alaska Oil spill
ii. Tankers at sea washing out their oil tanks
iii. Oil seeping from oil pipelines and oil
refineries, most of which are on the coast
iv. Oil leaking from offshore oil rigs
v. Waste from factories making goods from oil
by-products
9. 9
3. Soil pollution
i. Chemicals made from oil by-products,
and used in agriculture
e.g. fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides
ii. Disposal of oil-related waste products
which do not completely degrade or
disintegrate in the environment
10. 10
Why is the use of natural gas on the rise?
Advantages:
1. High energy content
2. Cleanliness
3. Convenience and flexible
4. Easy to control
5. Can be transported by pipeline quickly and
easily
6. Can be liquefied and transported by gas
tanker
7. Only leave water vapor and CO2 when burns
11. 11
Is it possible to alleviate these problems? How?
Yes.
How?
Major objective to alleviate the problem:
Reduce the use of fossil fuels
Extraction would be reduced and thus the pollution
problem occurred could be alleviated
Solutions:
i. Increase the efficiency of fossil-fuel use
Reduce emissions by producing more energy
services with the same amount of fuel
ii. Develop non-fossil sources that can substitute
economically on a large scale
12. 12
iii. To encourage the reduction in consumptions
of oil products
iv. To use more energy-efficient equipment for
heating,cooling and lighting
13. 13
What are the obstacles for tackling these
problems?
1) Strong institutional pressure (regulation,
taxation, subsidy)
2) Often used as economic or even political
weapon among countries (e.g. OPEC)
3) Inertia:
Costly to abandon expensive equipment
before its useful life is completed
14. 14
4) Costs would be extremely high because:
I. unreturned investments on the original
equipment
II. the non-fossil technologies developed to
date are still expensive and limited in
supply
5) Costs would be unevenly distributed:
• most oppressive for the developing
nations, because they are least able to
pay and their energy needs are growing
rapidly
