Natural Gas Vs Gasoline

Gasoline or petrol for any European readers out there, has been used as the main source of fuel for various vehicles, ever since horse-drawn carriages first went out of fashion. I mean the word gasoline itself literally means, “fuel for automobiles” in the Oxford dictionary. So naturally gasoline has been used to power cars, motorbikes, trucks, boats, jets, and several other transport vehicles. However, if gasoline is so important to our tech-savvy 21st century, is it possible to imagine a future where gasoline is no longer used as a fuel source, short of nuclear annihilation? Can gasoline be replaced as a primary fuel source? Well an article from the Southern California gas company seems to think so, naming the ultimate successor to gasoline to be… natural gas. So first of all, what is the difference between the two? Well, both gasoline and natural gas are just a bunch of hydrogen and carbon atoms bonded together. What sets the two apart however, is that gasoline is made up of 8 carbon atoms held together by 18 hydrogen atoms, while natural gas is merely 1 carbon atom, attached to 4 hydrogen atoms. So basically, natural gas is a lot lighter than gasoline. Why then, is natural gas a better fuel source to use then gasoline? According to the article, vehicles that run on natural gas emit 10-20% less greenhouse gases than gasoline powered vehicles. When burned, natural gas will only produce 5-10% of CO2 that gasoline produces. It is also a lot cheaper to supply because unlike gasoline, natural gas can be used upon extraction with no refining needed. So why has gasoline not already been replaced with natural gas? Well, because even though natural gas is cheaper to extract doesn't mean that’s it cheaper to store in vehicles. Compressing natural gas alone requires a much bigger holding tank when gasoline can provide the same amount of energy in a smaller tank. There is also the sad reality that there are very few vehicles in existence that run on natural gas since there is no economic guarantee that the majority of a country’s population would transition between the two fuels. So the question of the article this time is: Is natural gas the way to go or should society stick with gasoline for now and simply wait for a more efficient fuel alternative to take of like say, electric cars?

Source:

S. (Ed.). (2010). Benefits of Natural Gas Vehicles. Retrieved from https://www.socalgas.com/for-your-business/natural-gas-vehicles/benefits

A (Brief) History of Oil Spills

One of the biggest examples of a pollutant entering water and having a significant effect on the water’s quality in the modern day is oil. Oil often spills out into the ocean from oil tankers, offshore oil platforms, and underwater drilling sites, due to maritime accidents or leaks. However, oil can also leak into lakes and rivers from land sources such as oil wells, drill sites and sometimes from car accidents in the form of gasoline. When oil makes enters huge bodies of water, such as oceans, it tends to accumulate on the surface, which puts several species of birds and animals at risk. Oil can often soak into the feathers of a bird it makes contact with, resulting in the bird going blind and being unable to fly, use its sense of smell, or even float on the surface properly. Marine fish that live close to the surface of the ocean could end up accidentally inhaling the oil through their gills or even mistake it for food, effectively poisoning itself. Oil spills on land could end up degrading air quality or even leak into underground water systems which can contaminate sources of drinking water. But just how much oil have humans lost to the oceans at a single period of time? Well I found an article that goes over the 9 biggest oil spills in human history and the volume of oil that was lost was astounding. I’m not going to go over all 9 events in detail as I’ll just be reiterating what the article already says, but I will mention the one that really caught my attention. For example, the second largest oil spill in history occurred in 2010! Nearly 9 years ago! On April 20th 2010, an offshore water platform in the gulf of Mexico sank into the ocean after a well containing natural gas burst, resulting in the gas spilling out and igniting. The resulting fire killed 11 workers and injured 17 others before the platform sank into the ocean two days later, taking an estimated 134 gallons of oil with it. The oil spill wouldn’t be fixed until September 17th. This means that the entire Gulf coast from Texas Texas to Florida was completely coated in oil for nearly 5 months. So a question that I have for this week is: If such an incident happened only 9 years ago then what does this tell you about the efficiency of the prevention methods we have in place today and how could they be improved?

Citations: Rafferty, J. P. (2018). 9 of the Biggest Oil Spills in History. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/list/9-of-the-biggest-oil-spills-in-history