Fossil fuels consumption

X 10 Btu/short ton), the solar energy trapped in 17.9 x 10 t of biomass, or about 8 x 10 t of biomass carbon, would be equivalent to the world s fossil fuel consumption in 1990 of 286 x 10 J. It is estimated that 77 x 10 t of carbon, or 171 x 10 t of biomass equivalent, most of it wild and not controlled, is fixed on the earth each year. Biomass should therefore be considered as a raw material for conversion to large suppHes of renewable substitute fossil fuels. Under controlled conditions dedicated biomass crops could be grown specifically for energy appHcations. 

A projection of biomass energy consumption in the United States for the years 2000, 2010, 2020, and 2030 is shown in Table 6 by end use sector (12). This analysis is based on a National Premiums Scenario which assumes that specific market incentives are appHed to aU. new renewable energy technology deployment. The scenario depends on the enactment of federal legislation equivalent to a fossil fuel consumption tax. Any incentives over and above those in place (ca 1992) for use of renewable energy will have a significant impact on biomass energy consumption. 

The possibilities of new sources of energy, such as energy from hydrogen, may also some day become economical, and help to uncouple fossil fuel consumption from economic growth... 

Mass Transit Fossil Fuel Consumption by Fuel (thousands oi gallons). SOURCE American Public Transit Association, 2000. 

Between 1992 and 1998, alternative fuels increased from less than 1 percent to more than 5 percent of total mass transit fossil fuel consumption in the United States (see Table 4). The share of alternative fuel consumption that was CNG increased from 19 percent to 72 percent over the same period. 

Computer projections of atmospheric CC2 concentration for the next 200 years predict escalating increases in C02 concentration. Only about half the C02 released by humans is absorbed by Earth s natural systems. The other half increases the C02 concentration in the atmosphere by about 1.5 ppmv per year. Two conclusions can be drawn from the these facts. First, even if C02 emissions were reduced to the amount emitted in 1990 and held constant at that level, the concentration of CO, in the atmosphere would continue to increase at about 1.5 ppmv per year for the next century. Second, to maintain C02 at its current concentration of 360 ppmv, we would have to reduce fossil fuel consumption by about 50% immediately. 

If the avoided impacts from incineration of paper (i.e. avoided fossil fuel consumption incineration in Fig. 3) and the avoided impacts from recycling paper (i.e. avoided production of virgin paper recovery in Fig. 3) are allocated to paper production, the contribution from paper to the total impact profile is reduced significantly. 

Tradable quota systems for carbon emissions, where individuals are given an allocation of quota, do this for fossil fuel consumption (see policy C3 of the Green Party Manifesto for a Sustainable Society at http //policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss (accessed November 2006) or the Tyndall Centre proposals for domestic tradable quotas (Starkey and Anderson, 2005). 

Coal forms about 60% of the global fossil fuel resources that are relatively evenly distributed around the world in more than 90 countries. The relative share of the coal consumption had a peak of 70% around 1900, but since then the relative importance has been on decline. Nowadays approximately % of the global fossil fuel consumption is by solids, from which 60 % is used for power generation. 

Table 7.7 illustrates the rapid increase of global fossil fuel consumption from the data of the World Resources Institute for 1950-2003. We shall now consider more detailed statistical data for different kinds of fossil fuel and energy resources in general, with emphasis on extremely non-uniform distributions of energy consumption for different countries (Table 7.8). 

Keywords hydrogen, fossil fuel consumption, solar-hydrogen energy system... 

TABLE 2. Worldwide fossil fuel consumption and environmental damage for 1998... 

China alone will contribute a quarter of the increase in C02 emissions or 3.6 billion tons, bringing its total emissions to 6.7 billion tons per year in 2030. However, Chinese emissions will still be well below those of the USA. A projected increase in fossil fuel consumption is largely responsible for fast-paced growth in C02 emissions. Of the fossil fuels, coal and oil account currently for the major part of the total energy-related C02 emissions. Factors such as population growth, rising personal incomes, improved standards of living, and further industrialization are expected to have a... 

Nuclear energy can effectively be used in these processes to supply hydrogen, heat and/or oxygen, otherwise fossil fuel consumption is inevitable to supply hydrogen and/or heat. Thus, using nuclear energy for these hydrocarbon production processes will reduce fossil fuel consumption and consequently C02 emission during production processes. 

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