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Energy and Our Society
Abstract
Fossil-C, in the form of coal, natural gas, and oil, covers 81+% of the energy
necessary to satisfy the needs of our society. The continued use of fossil-C
causes the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The reduction of
the emission of CO 2 is becoming urgent.
1.1 Introduction
Humans, as all living organisms, emit bio-CO 2 during the expiration (ca. 0.9 kg/day
person, or 328 kg/y person, or ca. 25 t/person in a life of 75 y). Therefore, over 7
billion people in the actual world population emit ca. 7 Mt CO2 /day or 2.55 Gt CO2 /y
just for the life’s very basic operations such as respiration.
Since man uses fire, it has also become an emitter of CO 2 produced through the
combustion of fuels in a variety of activities, including cooking. During 2018, the
total World Energy Consumption (WEC) was of 13 978 Mt oe (Mt oe = million-ton-oil-equivalent, i.e., expressing all the energy used as oil), [1] continuing the
growth observed over the last 28 years (Table 1.1).
Most of the total energy (81+%) comes from fossil-C-based sources (coal, lignite, oil, gas), which are converted into other forms of energy such as thermal,
electrical, mechanical, etc. with a quite low efficiency in the range 27–50% and an
average of ca. 30–33%. Major users are the production of electric energy, industries
and transport. The remaining part of the original chemical energy of fossil-C is lost
as heat, often at high temperature, that ends with a direct heating of the atmosphere
and our Planet.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Aresta and A. Dibenedetto, The Carbon Dioxide Revolution,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59061-1_1
1
Energy and Our Society
Abstract
Fossil-C, in the form of coal, natural gas, and oil, covers 81+% of the energy
necessary to satisfy the needs of our society. The continued use of fossil-C
causes the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The reduction of
the emission of CO 2 is becoming urgent.
1.1 Introduction
Humans, as all living organisms, emit bio-CO 2 during the expiration (ca. 0.9 kg/day
person, or 328 kg/y person, or ca. 25 t/person in a life of 75 y). Therefore, over 7
billion people in the actual world population emit ca. 7 Mt CO2 /day or 2.55 Gt CO2 /y
just for the life’s very basic operations such as respiration.
Since man uses fire, it has also become an emitter of CO 2 produced through the
combustion of fuels in a variety of activities, including cooking. During 2018, the
total World Energy Consumption (WEC) was of 13 978 Mt oe (Mt oe = million-ton-oil-equivalent, i.e., expressing all the energy used as oil), [1] continuing the
growth observed over the last 28 years (Table 1.1).
Most of the total energy (81+%) comes from fossil-C-based sources (coal, lignite, oil, gas), which are converted into other forms of energy such as thermal,
electrical, mechanical, etc. with a quite low efficiency in the range 27–50% and an
average of ca. 30–33%. Major users are the production of electric energy, industries
and transport. The remaining part of the original chemical energy of fossil-C is lost
as heat, often at high temperature, that ends with a direct heating of the atmosphere
and our Planet.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Aresta and A. Dibenedetto, The Carbon Dioxide Revolution,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59061-1_1
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