Explain how much potential energy lies in the ground (Oil, Gas, Coal) and above the ground (water, wind)?

Explain how much potential energy lies in the ground (Oil, Gas, Coal) and above the

ground (water, wind)?

According to science, precisely physics, energy is a term used for a quantitative matter which is transferred to any object or property so as to execute specific duties, or heat the object. Besides being a conserved quantity, energy can also be converted into various forms, but it can neither be created nor generated as the law of conservation of energy dictates. The most common types that energy takes are kinetic energy, found in a moving object, potential energy, which is stored energy by object’s position in a force field that can be either magnetic, gravitational or electric (Criekemans, 2018). And for living organism to stay alive, they also require energy, for instance, the energy that humans acquire from foods. The humans also require substantial amounts of energy from sources such as renewable energy, fossil fuels and nuclear energy to allow them to have an operational environment.

Coal is one of the examples of the sources of non-renewable energy as it takes it many years to form itself. Coal can be defined as a combustible brownish-black alluvial rock that contains high quantities of hydrocarbons together with carbon. The energy stored by plants that have existed for over millions of years in swampy forests constitutes the energy available in coal (Ritchie, & Dowlatabadi, 2017). The layers of grime combined with a rock covered by plants for hundreds of million years, which caused pressure and the plant are converted into a substance termed as coal using heat.  Oil, which is also termed as crude oil or petroleum, is a thick black liquid that consists mainly of carbon and hydrogen but it is also composed of other elements such as oxygen, sulphur and nitrogen.

The existence of oil in the ground started to form very many million years ago at the time when aquatic ecosystem died and sunk to the foot of the ocean, and the deposits of sedimentary rock then buried them. Oil is only found in particular rocks underground termed as reservoirs. Fossil gas also termed as natural gas consist of naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture that comprises mainly of methane as the primary element, but other components like helium, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen are present in small quantities (Criekemans, 2018). The formation of gas happens when the layers of a decomposing animal or plant matter are subjected to extreme pressure and heat below the earth’s surface for millions of years. Fossil gas is a form of a non-renewable hydrocarbon that is helpful in the production of electricity, heating as well as cooking.

The energy that is generated from the power of water, especially when it is in motion is often termed water energy. For more than thousands of years, the energy sources that use water have been in existence but as waterwheels and water clocks. The amount of water energy is as old as a human civilization because it was the first alternative form of energy that human embraced. Consequently, wind energy or also called wind power is an example of energy acquired from the solar that explains the procedure where the wind is incorporated in the production of hydroelectric power.  Mechanical power is achieved when the wind turbines convert kinetic energy present in the wind.

Measurements

The wind is formed as a result of unequal heating of the earth surface by the sun, rotation of the earth and variation in the atmosphere. The amount of energy that can be harnessed by turbines from wind can be calculated accurately because it is affected by wind’s speed, the area swept and air density. This is attainable using the equation for wind power which is;

It is not the wind that is only measurable because water energy can be measured by measuring Water Head, which is made up of water pressure generated by the variation in elevation between the water turbine and the intake of the pipeline (Zhang, & Luo, 2017). The measurement of Water Head can be done either by measuring the vertical distance in feet or meters or measured as the pressure in Newton per square meter or even pounds per square inch regardless of one’s stream size.

Oil and gas must be measurable so that one can get paid for them accordingly. And the success of accurately measuring hydrocarbon has been facilitated by the advancement that has been experienced technologically for the past few decades. Oil is measured when it is in its raw form using the official unit BBL, which is equal to forty-two US gallons as stated by royalty statement. It is also possible to measure natural gas using its unit of measurement, which is the MFC that is also equivalent to a thousand cubic feet. Most of the wells producing natural gas measure gas production using an orifice style meter. Just like all other forms of energy, coal is also measurable through coal measures which are mainly the upper carboniferous system, a part that contains coal. The coal Measures group is made up upper, middle and lower Coal Measure Formation which is responsible for recording the deposits of fluvial-deltaic sediments that comprises of both clastic rocks such as claystones, sandstones, and conglomerates and interstratified beds of coal. Millstone Grit of Namurian era is the best coarser clastic sequence that coal measure undergoes (Ritchie, & Dowlatabadi, 2017).

Reference

Criekemans, D. (2018). Geopolitics of the renewable energy game and its potential impact upon global power relations. The geopolitics of renewables (pp. 37-73). Springer, Cham.

Ritchie, J., & Dowlatabadi, H. (2017). The 1000 GtC coal question: Are cases of vastly expanded future coal combustion still plausible? Energy Economics, 65, 16-31.

Zhang, D., & Luo, R. (2017). Modelling of adsorption isotherms of probe vapours on aggregates for accurate determination of aggregate surface energy components. Construction and Building Materials, 134, 374-387.