Word: fossils
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Volt may make a small dent in America's dependence on imported oil, but that's all. Since 70% of U.S. electricity is made by burning natural gas or coal in power stations, the car basically swaps one fossil fuel for another. And because it's carrying a 400-lb. (180-kg) dead-weight battery, it may even wind up using more fossil fuel and costing more to run than a normal car - with no compensating reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Anton Ziolkowski, Edinburgh
...transformation of Sasol from a company with the most dubious of pasts into a company with the brightest of futures illuminates our can't-live-with-it, can't-live-without-it relationship to oil. The future well-being of the planet depends on our reduction of fossil-fuel emissions. On the other hand, the future well-being of much of humanity depends on our continued use of fossil fuels. The way companies like Sasol negotiate this dilemma will help determine the future...
...gasoline, emitting less sulfur and less nitrogen when it burns, says Barrows. Coal-to-liquid plants can also be used to clean up the mountains of coal left over at old mines. But in terms of carbon emissions, Fischer-Tropsch is dirty. A sliding scale of emissions from fossil fuels, goes: coal, petroleum, methane. Coal emits the most carbon dioxide per unit of energy obtained. The resultant fuel also emits more carbon dioxide when burned. "It's a double whammy," says Barrows. Ricketts cautions that Sasol's Secunda plant, which produces 150,000 bbl. of fuel...
...solved through small-scale changes in personal behavior - all the compact fluorescent lightbulbs in the world wouldn't slow down warming a single degree. What's needed is political action on a national and international level to speed the adoption of renewable energy and the phasing out of fossil fuels - exactly what the We ads, with their flowing wind turbines, are preaching. "The solutions are out there now," says Zoi. "All of this stuff is ready to take off. What we need is the policy to unleash the potential...
That's not to say offshore drilling should be off limits. The world will be on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, and we will need more oil. If individual U.S. states want to take the risk of opening up their coastlines to drilling, let them - it's not a battle environmentalists should insist on winning...