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 Some fuels are better suited to certain
tasks than others. For example it only takes 8 gallons of gasoline
to produce a MBTU's but it takes 125 pounds of wood to produce
the same amount of energy. Can you imagine driving a car around
town with 125 pounds of wood loaded in the trunk?
Use this notion of energy density to
explain the following:
- "Natural gas is the fuel of choice for
heating water, heating homes and cooking."
- · "Coal is an abundant fossil
fuel but it's dirty."
- "Gasoline can never be replaced by biomass
fuels like wood."
- "Burning natural gas to make electricity
is a terrible waste (or a good use) of a precious resource."
EXAMPLE: Wood has 8,000 BTU's (British Thermal
Unit) per pound. How many pounds of wood will it take to produce
1 million BTu's (British Thermal Unit)? Ans. 1,000,000/ 8000
= 125 pounds.
Each pound of wood produces about 2.59 pounds
of carbon dioxide. So burning 125 pounds of wood produces 323.8
pounds of carbon dioxide (2.59 X 125 = 323.8 pounds).
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Pushing, pulling and falling
has the Wolf Man confused about energy. He thinks that one type
of energy is just as good as another. And why shouldn't he? Most
people do and take that notion right into the Ghostly Graveyard!
And this problem with Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gasses
and global warming. That's got the furry graveyard sexton worried
too.
After a quick trip on the Web you've
summarized the main types of fuels used in the United States,
identified their energy content in BTU (British Thermal Unit)
and the amount of carbon dioxide produced per unit of fuel. Now
you've got to do some calculations to help the Wolf Man make
meaningful comparisons. A calculator will help!
