The Discussion Of Current Issues

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Petroleum is one of the fossil fuels which are produced from a microorganism called anaerobic digestion. Petroleum is made from hydrocarbon which is combination of carbon and hydrogen. It is one of the non-renewable energy because it takes long time to produce. Fossil fuel which takes long time to produce formed from any dead organism such as plants and animals and buried in the discharge of rock in earth’s surface which have high permeability. The gathering of remaining of plants and animals, discharge of air and exchange of air is important steps to form fossil fuels. All the organics are not turned into oil but only certain percent change into oil. Petroleum is a combination of crude oil and petroleum products with some of natural gases. Petroleum is obtained from drilling of the oil by a process called fractional distillation. The pressure at the ground is higher than surface the result will be dissolved gas where the content of it will be C7H16 and C6H14. Petroleum is not only produce oil but it makes tyres, plastics and medicines for cure or prevention. The top countries for petroleum production are Russia, Saudi Arabia, United States and Malaysia is in ranking number 27 according to 2012 survey.

Solar power is one of the traditional energy sources which are produced by sun’s radiation with some mixtures of air, smoke and other chemical substances including fossil fuels. Solar energy is one of the renewable energy with wind energy, tidal, geothermal, biomass and hydroelectric because sun’s light won’t run out for lifetime. Solar power has the capability of generating electricity. Solar energy is the main source for or earth where it produces sunlight. Sunlight is converted into electricity using photovoltaic (PV) or else uses it indirectly by using concentrated solar power (CSP). PV uses photoelectric effect to convert sunlight into current while concentrating solar power (CSP) uses mirror to focus on large area to smaller area. Silicon which acts as a semiconductor transfer solar energy to electricity. Sunlight hits the solar cell which then flows through the circuit and produce electricity which the power can be used for residence and industrial purposes. The solar cell stops producing power once the light is removed in the solar cell. In the late 70’s there is alternative way of using solar power by boiling the water and use it later.

Section 2: Discussion of Current Issues

There is a famous proverb called old is gold which means old is always valuable, solid, better and good for us. Same goes to petroleum which was introduced on 1980’s and still being a necessary resource. There are several reasons why good old traditional oil so difficult to replace. The main problem which is very obvious is the solar power doesn’t work for 24 hours because there will be no sunlight at night to produce electricity nor to store it effectively. The climate is not predictable all the time where we can’t always depend on solar energy or wind energy. Choosing solar power will be a bad decision because car can’t operate at night whereas it can only be used on day time which doesn’t make sense at all.

Furthermore, good old traditional oil is so difficult to replace because demand for oil nowadays increasing rapidly since year 1994 on the contrary production of oil is decreasing. Currently, our world consuming more than 86 million barrels (13.7×106 m3 ) per day due to high transportation, industrial, residential and commercial sectors.

Moreover, we can’t deny that world is addicted to consumption of oil for past years which is very hard for them to change where they are desperate too. When petroleum was created there were just around 2 million people around the globe but today’s population is estimated around 7 billion people. In current situation, everyone needs oil as it is a concentrated energy, very flexible and easily transported by sea tankers as it is in liquid form. We are in a desperate situation where we are consuming more oil in our daily basis mainly for our transportation and residence. So, it is clearly known that is why oil is difficult to be replaced and hard to fill the gap. We shall try filling the gap but it is impossible. It will speed up the exhaustion of other resources.

One of the top reasons why oil is hard to be replaced is because of the cost of solar power. Oil is relatively inexpensive compared to solar energy because it is easily accessible and have large supply. Home solar power system is very expensive and not efficient enough where a moderate family can’t afford to buy it and install it at home. Solar energy is said green energy sources but it can’t give as much as oil can give because oil has high power density. Some sources say that energy takes up to 5% of annual inflation rate. If you purchase solar panel, with utilities rebate and taxpayer dollars one need to payback almost for around 30 years is clearly troublesome. You can actually count the amount of solar panel installed in residential areas. Currently the cost of kilowatt hour is very high where in 15 years it will be double and vary according to locations.

One of the reason solar power can’t win over petroleum is that oil can give more energy per given unit volume, mass or area. A group of wind turbines which produces electric power need a lot of building materials compared to central station fossil-fuel power plants. So, to overcome this problem wind energy needs this power plant. As Mr. Bryce says, "If oil didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it". We can’t deny that there are issues for oil such as oil drifting but still when we think of producing and transporting the oil, comparing with substance that can take the place of oil, still oil will win. Other substance which is trying to be replaced by oil is having low power density as a disadvantage.

We can’t deny that by consuming oil, emission of carbon dioxide occurs but still it is difficult to be replaced. We can’t control or avoid this problem because in future people will be changing technologically by using more modern cars, and products. This shows that we need more energy and increase in consumption of hydrocarbon. One of the reason oil will be remained is because of slow pace of energy changeover. This is because at first wood was the main renewable energy in the world. It was replaced by coal in United States after a very long time. 65 years later, oil deposes as largest source of energy.

In addition, oil is being hard to be changed to other form of energy because each fuel source has their own form of environmental pollutions. For example, burning of oil produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas which is a major cause of global warming where increase in temperature of earth’s atmosphere due to greenhouse effect. Acid rain due to emission of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, air pollution by many vehicle and companies, spilling of oil is some of it. Meanwhile solar energy facing problem by use of toxic materials in producing photovoltaic cells. Furthermore, sequestration of large land area and visual interruption in rural areas is pollution too. It is really hard for solar power or other alternatives to go up against oil in current situation even though if they increase to their maximum potential. (Energy: a Guidebook, 1997)

The figure above shows alternative fuel contributions where it match the fossil fuel if they have maximum potential but will take decades and cost outweigh the benefit. Solar is not included in the potential renewable because it is better to be used in smaller scale rather than using it for larger scale.

From different angle, we can say that there are insufficiency or solar. Hydropower is providing 15 times more energy compared with solar and wind energy. Apart from that, the production of solar energy will be lesser on winter season compare to other season because of less sun radiation. Even though the solar company reduces the price of solar cell, still it does not meet the requirement of people who need sufficient energy. Mostly, residential areas only getting one third of energy. Survey proves that solar is currently have radiation efficiency up to only 22%.

Besides, peak oil is the maximum level reached by the oil where later on it is predicted to fall off. But not to worry because now oil production still can be maintained for upcoming years. 95% of oil is found until today. Solar energy which produce minimal energy but still failed to compete against oil. Photovoltaic cells which convert solar radiation into electric current need excess resources. Solar energy will take a long time to build and consume the iron production. Those are the reasons why good old traditional oil is so difficult to replace by solar power.

Section 3: Case Studies and Discussion

The figure above shows fuel energy density of each source. It shows why other source is not suitable to be replaced. Amount of energy in aviation fuel is higher compare to coal or crude oil. Hydrogen which has higher energy density compare to others didn’t count the amount of energy needed to create gas.

Solar energy is free from greenhouse gases, 100 % renewable energy, and also free from environment. The fact is not everyone is a fan of solar energy because it takes a longer term whereas we people look onto the shorter term. Oil gives powers for our vehicles such as cars, airplane and train whereas solar energy produces electricity. We might be thinking that solar energy is environmental friendly and we should use it but practically not possible. Some people expecting solar panels can prevent oil spills but they are wrong. Oil and gas have received more support from several organizations.

Section 4: Conclusions and Suggestions

Practically we can’t quit using oil and completely change our mind using solar power. It is not very easy because oil is the breakthrough. We as a human being living in the world full of technology need non-renewable energy such as oil to survive. Solar is not energy efficient and far too expensive for us to manage in daily live. For example photovoltaic cell needs around 70 square miles of solar panels to produce one gigawatt of electricity. Moreover, solar panels lifespan is very short which is around 20 to 30 years. Unlike, petroleum solar panels cannot be upgraded to a better one for future use.

Solar panels are also difficult to be installed at home where you should hire a specialist for it. Furthermore, it is large where you should install it in a right position where direct sunlight can strike into it. People who livings in non-urban areas rely upon woods but due to demolition of flora and fauna and deforestation they are facing problem. The quick way to overcome this problem is by giving fuel production of oil.

Having taken oil for decades, the economy is not aware if it is absence. Most of the oil has been discovered and the technology has improved. The production of oil is reducing while the consumption is increasing each day. So, we should use it wisely so that the earth will be safe.

Nowadays oil-fuelled power station can be found anywhere. You can find it within 3 to 4km which is convenient. People usually will go to the cheaper, easy accessibility and beneficial sources such as petroleum. So, it is very obvious that petroleum will be ruling our world in future.