Energy in the 21st Century
Overview
Chapter 5 in our text is all about thermochemistry.
• We see how reactants combine to produce energy. When we combust fossil fuels we are using the exothermic combustion reaction to get the energy we want or need.
• We use fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) for many things: power for transportation, electricity production, home and industrial heating. Often overlooked is the fact that these “fuels” also provide the basic raw materials for medicines and all of the polymer products (clothing, plastics, etc.) that we use everyday. Nearly everything you come in contact with every day has some link to the petroleum industry. Here is a partial list of items:A partial list of products made from Petroleum (6000 items)(link opens in new window).
The sources for and uses of energy are some of the most pressing and influential questions to be answered by industry and science today. The search for alternative fuels is a major part of this endeavor. Here is an interesting interview with Bill Gates on this topic.
Q&A with Bill Gates on the World’s Energy Crisis (link opens in a new window).
Instructions
Here are some questions to consider in your discussion of the topic of Energy use in the 21st century:
• Is ethanol a good alternative to petroleum fuels? And is using corn to produce ethanol the right method?
• Find a reference that discusses an alternative fuel other than ethanol. Provide some detail about what the article says about the fuel and include your article as a reference.
• Where do you think we will be in 50 years on this issue?
Note: I am using Chemistry: the central science by brown
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Energy in the 21st Century
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Energy in the 21st Century
Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas are credited for their role in the development since industrial era. They find application in almost all parts of the industry including in fueling of machines, generation of electricity, manufacture of industrial products such as medicines and for heating and cooking in our homes (Brown, 2015). However, these fuels pose several dangers including pollution and the fact that their use is unsustainable since they are not renewable sources. Attempts to find alternative sustainable sources of energy have seen the manufacture of electric cars and increased use of wind energy. However, there is still huge dependence on fossil fuels, which has led scientists to devise alternative sources of energy in biofuel.
One of the alternative sources of energy that has been developed to replace fossil oils is ethanol. According to (Kotz, Treichel & Townsend, 2012) ethanol is manufactured through a fermentation process that involves renewable sources such as sugarcane and corn. Though it employs renewable sources in manufacture of biofuel, I do not think ethanol is a good alternative to fuels. The manufacture of ethanol would consume a substantial mass of land in production of the required quantity of sugarcane or corn. This would lead to overexploitation of land and possibility of crisis that would result in replacement of arable land for the purpose of production of fuel. For example, use of corn would not be right since corn is a source of food for animals and humans in other parts of the world. Using corn in manufacture of ethanol would not be sustainable and would become a threat to food security. There is a continuing attempt to develop sustainable
