http://rankingamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/chart-of-coal-consumptionxlsx.jpg
Picture: The picture shows how much coal America is using compared to the rest of the world.
Article: http://www.chron.com/business/article/Exxon-Mobil-says-fossil-fuels-to-dominate-for-2390818.php
Summary: In short, the heads of the gas company Exxon Mobile said that the use of fossil fuels will be around in the foreseeable future. Right now about 82% of all energy is supplied by coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels. By the year 2040 they expect that percentage to drop a little bit to 78%. They also believe that a rise in hybrid vehicles will be seen by the year 2040. They're guessing that around 40% of all vehicles will be hybrids by that date.
Opinion: I think that it is very typical for the big wigs at a company like Exxon Mobile would be saying that fossil fuels are swell and dandy. They making literally billions of dollars off of them so obviously they would say that they're going to be around in the future. What they didn't say is how bad they are for the environment. I'm sure that if they said that in their statements the hybrid vehicle percentage by the year 2040 would be a lot higher than 40%.
Questions:
1. When are we going to completely run out of fossil fuels?
2. When we run out of fossil fuels, what effect is that going to have on the economy?
3. Is it possible to make a vehicle that uses no fossil fuels?
Opinion/Reflection: I agree with Pat. These statistics given by Exxon Mobile are probably very biased. And as Pat mentioned already, the article didn't talk about the negative impacts of fossil fuels, either. Also, the fact that the use of fossil fules will only drop by 4% in about 20 years is quite sad. That means that we will continue to harm the environmentt. Not only that, we will run out of fossil fuels soon at the rate we are using them.
ReplyDeleteAnswers to one of the questions:
"1. When are we going to completely run out of fossil fuels?"
In class, Mrs. Deluca told us the estimated years in which coal, oil, and natural gas will last. For coal, it is 148-417 years. For oil, it is 43 years. For natural gas, it is 61-161 years. The range for these estimations are so big because many factors can affect the duration of these fossil fuels. For example, the rate at which we use them will have a big impact on the years.
Opinion: I agree with Pat about the article. I think that they're just saying all this to get more business. Also, I think that the use of fossil fuel percentage will drop much lower than 78% by 2040. In class we discussed that all fossil fuels have a negative affect on the environment. Even natural gas, the cleanest of fossil fuels, is a very non-environmentally friendly fuel source.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Pat's third question...
I did some research and found that there is a car that can run on water. Although it does need a slight bit of other fuel such as electricity or gasoline, people are working on a car that runs directly on water.
Opinion/Reflection: I think that a lot of other businesses probably do this too. they talk you into buying things by only telling you half the truth. They tell you the part that will make their product seem good and not tell you the portion that it is ruining the environment and we only have a certain amount left. My parents have cars and none of them are hybrids. i think that when we get new cars we should get hybrids so we dont ruin our environment.
ReplyDeleteQuestions:
1) Are there any cars out there that run fully with out fossil fuels?
2) Do any places reduce their use of fossil fuels at all knowing that we only have so much left?
3) Is there such thing as hybrid gas?
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Pat. Of course all of the companies like Exxon say that fossil fuels are great, and they don't say that it is bad for the environment. Also how they will be around for us in the future. But in class we learned that we have a limited supply of fossil fuels and we are running low on them. I think that our energy from fossil fuels will be a lot less than 78% because by 2040 we would have a very small supply of it so we would have to use alternative energies.
Questions:
What other type of fuels can we use to fuel our cars?
Would it be possible to make an artificial gas?
What would happen if we ran out of fossil fuels?