{"id":10297,"date":"2021-08-23T22:07:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T02:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=10297"},"modified":"2021-09-09T07:50:14","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T11:50:14","slug":"episode-415-carboniferus-era-51-million-years-ago-where-we-get-out-coal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=10297","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 415 CARBONIFERUS Era -51 million years ago -where we get out coal."},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 414   when will we deplete oil, gas and coal deposits on planet earth?(gifts from the carboniferous era)<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
august 23, 2021<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Much of THE world was one gigantic swamp 350 million years ago<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Picture of anthracite coal from Pennsylvania.   Look at the layering\u2026ancient trees<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
It took 50 million years for beds of coal to be formed from the huge treeanimals living in the <\/span><\/div>\n
dense jungles and immense swamps of the Carboniferosera 299 to 350 million years ago.  Correction that immense pile of dead matter<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
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was laid down 51 million years ago. A million years extra.Then the great piles of vegetation were covered<\/div>\n
with sedimentary rock and heated from the molten bowels of the earth.   We call<\/div>\n
the stuff coal today.   Really pressured ancient detritus became anthracite coal.<\/div>\n
Less pressured material became soft of bituminous coal.  Both forms of\u2019<\/div>\n
coal were the basis of our Industrial Revolution which began about 1800 and<\/div>\n
is still underway.   We have been burning coal, lots of it, for the last 221 years.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Now which time period is longer?  1) The Caroniferous Age  299 to 350 million years<\/div>\n
                                                                            or<\/div>\n
                                                       2) The Industrial Revolution  1800 to 2021 (and beyond to 2090)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Can the two events even be compared.  Our place in the history of the earth is tiny.<\/div>\n
Silly question.  But a question that makes me wonder whether the world as we know can<\/div>\n
survive when the coal runs out   And it will run out.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
What about oil?  good question.  We will run out of oil in 2053\u2026.32 years form now according <\/div>\n
to a British Petroleum study.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
What about gas?  good question\u2026we will run out of gas n 2,060\u202639 years from now.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Is there an alternative?   Of course there are alternative sources of energy.   That is why<\/div>\n
we re talking more and more about electricity.   Electric cars are already being manufactured<\/div>\n
en masse.   But electric energy needs something to turn those turbines.   Water power is an<\/div>\n
answer but there are only so many rivers that can be dammed (damn it)..  Nuclear power<\/div>\n
is another turbine turner but what will we do with the deadly waste\u2026and we all<\/div>\n
remember Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.  Wind power\u2026sunlight..other power sources currently<\/div>\n
provide A minuscule part of our energy needs<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
A WORD  FROM OTHERS<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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Oil will end by 2052   \u2013 30 years time<\/p>\n

Gas will end by 2060  \u2013 40 years time<\/span><\/p>\n

Coal will last till 2090 \u2013   70 years time<\/span><\/p>\n

However, according to BP [5], earth has 53 years of oil reserves left at current rate of consumption.<\/p>\n

Figure 1  Energy reserves in billion tonnes of oil equivalent \u2013 Btoe [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gioietta_1_23\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the 2019 Annual Energy Outlook [6] global GDP growth between 2017 and 2040 is expected to average 3.4%. <\/span><\/p>\n

The world energy demand will grow by 1\/3 through 2040, driven mostly by rising consumption in transportation in China, India and parts of Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
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This is obviously unsustainable. <\/span>These are horrific figures that will happen sooner than we can possibly mitigate.<\/span><\/p>\n

COAL<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So this takes us back to coal..  Dirty old coal will be around for the rest of this century and beyond. <\/div>\n
COAL is a problematic energy source even though it started and still sustains industrialization.  Burning<\/div>\n
both anthracite and bituminous coal destroys the air we breathe.  Tiny particles of<\/div>\n
coal in the air we breathe works like sandpaper in our lungs.  Black Lung\u2026by product is S02\u2026sulphur<\/div>\n
dioxide which becomes H2SO4 when combined with water. Sulphuric Acid.  Acid Rain.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Where is the coal?  Two countries have the largest coal supply in the world.<\/div>\n
First is the United Ststes and second is China.   Both countries resist the<\/div>\n
efforts of environmentalists to stop burning coal.  It is killing us\u2026smoke<\/div>\n
and waste.   Acid rain. It seems we will burn coal until we have used up <\/div>\n
all the coal that it took 51 million years to create\u2026and we will do that within the<\/div>\n
lifetimes of our grandchildren. Then what?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
SOME UNINFORMED SPECULATION: SOME WORDS OF HOPE<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Enough of this doom and gloom.  Is there an answer that could provide cheap<\/div>\n
energy for this century and centuries to come.  I think the answer is yes\u2026infinite <\/div>\n
source of energy could be found in the water we drink and in the rivers, lakes and<\/div>\n
oceans that cover<\/div>\n
most of our planet.  Hydrogen!.  What is the by product of burning hydrogen?  Water.<\/div>\n
H20.  Split the water into its component parts.   We already do that.  Yes, it is dangerous.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Who am I?  I am nor a chemist or even a scientist.  So once again I turn to my<\/div>\n
science mentor, Robert Root.   What do you think Bob?   What will we do when<\/div>\n
the coal, oil and gas are all used up?   and isn\u2019r reliance on coal stupid in the short run?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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\"Gioietta_1_23\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Gioietta_1_23\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 414   when will we deplete oil, gas and coal deposits on planet earth?(gifts from the carboniferous era) alan skeoch august 23, 2021 Much of THE world was one gigantic swamp 350 million years ago Picture of anthracite coal from Pennsylvania.   Look at the layering\u2026ancient trees It took 50 million years for beds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}