Page - 68 - in Water, Energy, and Environment - A Primer

gas into the atmosphere, Earth will continue to heat up, imposing devastating risks on current and future generations. There is no escaping these facts, just as there is no escaping gravity if you step off a ledge. Themovetocleanenergyis imperative. In thelongrun, that transition will createmore jobs than it destroys.But that is no comfort to families whose livelihoods and communities have collapsed along with the demand for coal.We owe something to the peoplewho do the kind of dangerous and difficultworkmygrandfathers did so thatwe can power ourmodern economy.’ 6.2 PETROLEUM Petroleum (crude oil) is today the world’s primary fuel source for transportation (90%), and is likely to remain so for at least a fewdecades into the future. It ismost often extracted fromdeep geologic reservoirs underground or below the ocean seabed. It can also be found in shale deposits and tar sands, and both of these ‘non-conventional’ petroleum sources are now being exploited commercially. Once extracted, it is processed in oil refineries into gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, liquefied petroleum gas, and other non-fuel products such as pesticides, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and heavy residues for use in asphalt. 6.2.1 Oil spills Oil use in transportation createsmajor environmental problems. Its combustion creates CO2 and NOx, as well as particulate matter (a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets) that can lead to serious respiratory problems when inhaled. Amajor concern is that because of its wide use in billions of cars, trucks, andother vehicles, eachofwhich acts as an individual point source of pollution, control of this pollution is quite difficult. Oil, either in extracted or refined form, also has to be transported by ship, pipeline, or truck to its final point of use, and spills are an ever-present danger.While Water,Energy, andEnvironment–APrimer68