# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fossil fuels -- including coal, oil and natural gas -- are drilled or mined before being burned to produce electricity, or refined for use as fuel.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
C-CHANGE | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Photo by: Pixabay user Free-Photos

Producing and burning fossil fuels creates air pollution that harms our health and generates toxic emissions that drive climate change.

From the electricity that lights our homes to the cars we drive to work, modern life was built on fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. But burning them creates climate change and releases pollutants that lead to early death, heart attacks, respiratory disorders, stroke, asthma, and absenteeism at school and work. It has also been linked to autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer's disease.

Research from Harvard University, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London, found that more than 8 million people died in 2018 from fossil fuel pollution, significantly higher than previous research suggested-meaning that air pollution from burning fossil fuels like coal and diesel was responsible for about 1 in 5 deaths worldwide.

Each year, our team contributes to the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change to track the impacts of climate change on human health across 44 indicators around the world. Our research analyzes the health impacts of burning fossil fuels and shows how much we have to gain by ending our reliance on them. Recent research from our Center:

Identified at least 21 different hazardous air pollutants, as defined by the U.S. EPA, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and hexane, in consumer-grade natural gas supplied to Massachusetts.

Created a new inventory of air pollution impacts from stationary sources over the past decade that shows the negative impacts of burning natural gas and biomass have surpassed coal generation in many states, which is a trend that may continue.

Conducted the first study to determine that Pennsylvania's statewide setback regulations for fracking do not prevent setback incidents, and identified the potential risks and exposures for people living near fracking or underground natural gas wells.

Showed that more people live closer to underground gas storage wells than previously thought. An estimated 20,000 homes and 53,000 people in predominantly suburban areas of PA, OH, WV, MI, NY, and CA live within a city block of active underground natural gas storage wells.

Developed the science-based case for why it is "appropriate and necessary" for EPA to regulate mercury emissions from the power sector; and why the health benefits of regulation and remaining risks from mercury pollution in the U.S. should be assessed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Producing and burning fossil fuels creates air pollution that harms our health and generates toxic emissions that drive climate change.

# data[].attributes.body
I gain no female aquantences

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Say the words "fossil fuel" to most environmentally conscious people and you will conjure up images of smoggy air, oil spills, and melting ice caps.

Fossil fuels, including coal, petroleum, and natural gas, are the go-to boogeyman of the green movement-and with good reason. They are known to release large amounts of greenhouse gases when burned for energy- leading to our dangerously changing climate. Additionally, the methods used to access these fuel sources (think fracking, tar sands, extensive mining) can be significantly damaging to the environment.

In short, civilization's addiction to fossil fuels is trashing and poisoning our planet.

You may wonder, if all this is true, if burning fossil fuels really is damaging life on earth, then why are we still using them as the main source of our energy in most of the world? Although both the problems of fossil fuels and the benefits of "green" energy have been known for decades, our global consumption of energy has only increased, and we continue to get roughly 80% of our energy from fossil fuels.

What is going on?

This question sent me on a quest to understand the state of energy on Earth.

To start off my journey, I first sought to understand these fossil fuels. My research led me to a few characteristics that heavily contribute to our reluctance to drop them.

1. EFFICIENCY: They are excellent as fuels

With all the talk about how awful fossil fuels are, one relevant fact is almost invariably forgotten. Fossil fuels are fantastic at their job; that is, producing energy. Earth's fossil fuel reserves were formed over millions of years as the organic material of ancient plants and microorganisms (not dinosaurs) were compressed and heated into dense deposits of carbon- basically reservoirs of condensed energy. For this reason fossil fuels are incredibly " energy dense", meaning a little bit of a fossil fuel can produce a whole lot of energy. This energy dense quality is what led to Europe's adoption of coal over wood as a fuel source, and this sudden increase in available energy eventually led to the industrial revolution. Coal, oil, and natural gas seem to exist to be fuels.

2. CONVENIENCE: They are ready-made

As mentioned above, fossil fuels are the result of natural processes of millions of years. While it took a looong time to turn trees and ferns into coal, those millions of years have already passed and we have nothing to do now but reap the rewards of eons. To unlock most alternative fuels (think solar, geothermal, wind, etc...) we first have to figure out how to efficiently collect, transform, and store the energy before we can even begin to think about using it. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, require no such innovation.

The work of collecting and storing the energy in fossil fuels has already been accomplished, and all that's now needed to access the abundant energy reservoir is the technology of fire. And humans have known about fire for a lot longer than we've known about photovoltaics.

This "ready-made" quality of fossil fuels also means that we can access their energy anywhere, anytime. Unlike solar power which is dependent on cooperative weather and hampered by things like night, fossil fuels can be used anywhere the appropriate infrastructure exists, regardless of time, weather, or even geographical location. Very few alternative energy sources can compete with fossil fuels when it comes to producing power "on-demand."

3. LOGISTICS: They are well-established

The last aspect of fossil fuels that makes them so hard to abandon is the fact that they have been the main source energy in much of the world for the past two centuries. Two centuries may not seem like such a long time in the grand scheme of things, but this particular set of 200 years was a bit more remarkable than most-it contained the industrial revolution.

The industrial revolution (which I already mentioned was made possible by coal) and the modern world it resulted in changed the way humans do everything. Seriously. Everything from what we eat, to where we work, to what we wear, to how we get around. Think about it the device you are using to read this blog. Think about the electricity that powers your home and refrigerator. Most-if not every part-of our lives is completely dependent and intertwined with the energy provided by fossil fuels.

Since fossil fuels have been the dominate source of our energy during the entirety of the development of the modern, industrialized world, all our systems-from production to infrastructure to transportation to residential-are set up for their use. Switching to another energy source would mean completely rethinking the way we live and the way we understand energy.

Will we ever be able to stop using fossil fuels?

My research into fossil fuels showed me that the problem of fuel is a tad more complicated that I initially understood. For an alternative energy source to be a viable substitution, it must be able to match fossil fuels in their efficiency as fuels, the accessibility of their energy, and their integration into society. Fossil fuels, and their use over the last 200 years, have left some pretty enormous shoes to fill and - as they currently stand - no alternative source is up to the task. It is going to take some more Research and Development, perhaps funded by a carbon tax, to get one-or several-new sources of energy up to a sufficient level of production to replace the "dinosaur" fuels.

Despite the difficulty, though, it must be done. We simply cannot go on burning fossil fuels with no thought to the consequences. Fossil fuels are undeniably excellent fuels, but the negative externalities of their use-their harm to human health, the environment, and society -far outweigh any benefit of continuing their use.

Want to learn more about alternative energy? Click here

Want to learn more about fossil fuels? Watch this

Want to learn more about how coal use shaped our world? Read this awesome book

Want to learn more about differnet fuels? Click here

Did you enjoy this post? Please share it with your friends!

Originally Published July 2016

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Reasons We Are Still Using Fossil Fuels

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fossil fuels, including coal, petroleum, and natural gas, are the go-to boogeyman of the green movement-and with good reason. They are known to release large amounts of greenhouse gases when burned for energy- leading to our dangerously changing climate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Because of their origins, fossil fuels have a high carbon content.

Oil

Crude oil, or petroleum (literally "rock oil" in Latin), is a liquid fossil fuel made up mostly of hydrocarbons (hydrogen and carbon compounds). Oil can be found in underground reservoirs; in the cracks, crevices, and pores of sedimentary rock; or in tar sands near the earth's surface. It's accessed by drilling, on land or at sea, or by strip mining in the case of tar sands oil and oil shale. Once extracted, oil is transported to refineries via supertanker, train, truck, or pipeline to be transformed into usable fuels such as gasoline, propane, kerosene, and jet fuel-as well as products such as plastics and paint.

Petroleum products supply about 35 percent of U.S. energy needs, with the transportation sector consuming the most. U.S. oil consumption in 2016 was 10 percent below the record high of 2005 and only 3 percent higher than during the 1973-74 embargo by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)-despite the U.S. economy tripling in size in the decades since. Demand for oil plummeted during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has now risen to its highest point since 2019. This is partly due to the volatile global market amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Still, U.S. consumption of petroleum products is forecast to decrease, at least through 2038, as fuel efficiency standards lead to cleaner-running vehicles. Continued strengthening of clean car and fuel economy standards remains critical for reducing oil consumption.

On the production side, the United States has experienced a decade-long upswing. Production growth is due in large part to advancements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, technologies that have created a boom in U.S. shale oil and natural gas extraction. While horizontal drilling enables producers to drill down and outward-thus reaching more oil or gas from a single well-hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking) is designed to extract oil or natural gas from unyielding rock, including shale and other formations. Fracking involves blasting huge quantities of water mixed with chemicals and sand deep into a well, at pressures high enough to fracture rock and enable the oil or gas to escape. This controversial method of extraction creates a host of environmental and health problems, including air and water pollution.

Coal

Coal is a solid, carbon-heavy rock that comes in four main varieties, differentiated largely by carbon content: lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous, and anthracite. Nearly all of the coal burned in the United States is sub-bituminous or bituminous. Found in abundance in states, including Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wyoming, these coal types are middle of the pack in terms of carbon content and the heat energy they can produce. Regardless of variety, however, all coal is dirty. Indeed, in terms of emissions, it's the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel we can burn.

Coal is extracted via two methods: Underground mining uses heavy machinery to cut coal from deep underground deposits, while surface mining (also known as strip mining) removes entire layers of soil and rock to access coal deposits below. Strip mining accounts for about two-thirds of coal sourced in the United States. Although both forms of mining are detrimental to the environment, strip mining is particularly destructive, uprooting and polluting entire ecosystems.

Coal and the power plants that burn it account for less than a third of U.S. electricity generation, down from more than half in 2008. Cleaner, cheaper alternatives-including natural gas, renewables like solar and wind, and energy-efficient technologies-make coal far less economically attractive and demand for coal has fallen steadily since 2014. Today, coal-fired power plants continue to close, despite the former Trump administration's promises of a revived industry. At the moment, market fluctuations amid the war in Ukraine have resulted in a sudden uptick in coal consumption, especially in its competition with fracked (natural) gas, but that is expected to be temporary as market forces propel alternative energy sources forward.

Fracked (natural) gas

Composed mostly of methane, fracked gas is generally considered either conventional or unconventional, depending on where it's found underground. Conventional gas is located in porous and permeable rock beds or mixed into oil reservoirs and can be accessed via standard drilling. Unconventional gas is essentially any form of gas that is too difficult or expensive to extract via regular drilling, requiring a special stimulation technique, such as fracking.

In the United States, the development and refinement of processes like fracking have helped make the country the world's top producer of gas since 2009-and the biggest consumer of it too. Abundant in the United States, gas produces 38 percent of U.S. energy needs and is the largest source of energy for electricity. Forecasts suggest it will become an even greater part of the U.S. energy mix, threatening to exacerbate air and water pollution.

Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels

Land degradation

Unearthing, processing, and moving underground oil, gas, and coal deposits take an enormous toll on our landscapes and ecosystems. The fossil fuel industry leases vast stretches of land for infrastructure, such as wells, pipelines, and access roads, as well as facilities for processing, waste storage, and waste disposal. In the case of strip mining, entire swaths of terrain-including forests and whole mountaintops-are scraped and blasted away to expose underground coal or oil. Even after operations cease, the nutrient-leached land will never return to what it once was.

As a result, critical wildlife habitat-land that is crucial for breeding and migration-ends up fragmented and destroyed. Even animals able to leave can end up suffering, as they're often forced into less-than-ideal habitat and must compete with existing wildlife for resources.

Water pollution

Coal, oil, and gas development pose myriad threats to our waterways and groundwater. Coal mining operations wash toxic runoff into streams, rivers, and lakes and dump vast quantities of unwanted rock and soil into streams. Oil spills and leaks during extraction or transport can pollute drinking water sources and jeopardize entire freshwater or ocean ecosystems. Fracking and its toxic fluids have also been found to contaminate drinking water, a fact that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was slow to recognize.

Meanwhile, all drilling, fracking, and mining operations generate enormous volumes of wastewater, which can be laden with heavy metals, radioactive materials, and other pollutants. Industries store this waste in open-air pits or underground wells that can leak or overflow into waterways and contaminate aquifers with pollutants linked to cancer, birth defects, neurological damage, and much more.

Emissions

Fossil fuels emit harmful air pollutants long before they're burned. Indeed, some 17.6 million Americans are exposed daily to toxic air pollution from active oil and gas wells and from transport and processing facilities. These include benzene (linked to childhood leukemia and blood disorders) and formaldehyde (a cancer-causing chemical). A booming fracking industry will bring that pollution to more backyards, despite mounting evidence of the practice's serious health impacts. Mining operations are no better, especially for the miners themselves, generating toxic airborne particulate matter. Strip mining-particularly in places such as Canada's boreal forest -can release giant carbon stores held naturally in the wild.

Global warming pollution

When we burn oil, coal, and gas, we don't just meet our energy needs-we drive the current global warming crisis as well. Fossil fuels produce large quantities of carbon dioxide when burned. Carbon emissions trap heat in the atmosphere and lead to climate change. In the United States, the burning of fossil fuels, particularly for the power and transportation sectors, accounts for about three-quarters of our carbon emissions.

Other forms of air pollution

Fossil fuels emit more than just carbon dioxide when burned. Coal-fired power plants single-handedly generate 35 percent of dangerous mercury emissions in the United States, as well as two-thirds of U.S. sulfur dioxide emissions (which contribute to acid rain) and the vast majority of soot ( particulate matter) in our air. Meanwhile, fossil fuel-powered cars, trucks, and boats are the main contributors of poisonous carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide, which produces smog on hot days and leads to respiratory illnesses from sustained exposure.

Ocean acidification

When we burn oil, coal, and gas, we change the ocean's basic chemistry, making it more acidic. Our seas absorb as much as a quarter of all man-made carbon emissions. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution (and our coal-burning ways), the ocean has become 30 percent more acidic. As the acidity in our waters goes up, the amount of calcium carbonate-a substance used by oysters, lobsters, and countless other marine organisms to form shells-goes down. This can slow growth rates, weaken shells, and imperil entire food chains.

Ocean acidification impacts coastal communities as well. In the Pacific Northwest, it's estimated to have cost the oyster industry millions of dollars and thousands of jobs.

Building a Clean Energy Future

We're not locked into a fossil fuel future, however. We've made major progress in scaling up renewable energy and energy efficiency in the United States over the past decade, thanks to federal, state, and local policies that have helped to grow the clean energy economy. We're also using energy much more efficiently than we used to.

State and federal incentives, along with falling prices, are pushing our nation-and the world-toward cleaner, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. Renewables are on track to become a cheaper source of energy than fossil fuels, which is spurring a boom in clean energy development and jobs. Significantly higher levels of renewables can be integrated into our existing grid, though care must be taken to site and build renewable energy responsibly.

Meanwhile, energy efficiency is our cleanest, cheapest, and largest energy resource, contributing more to the nation's energy needs over the past 40 years than oil, coal, natural gas, or nuclear power. It accounted for nearly 2.4 million U.S. jobs before the pandemic in 2019-at least 10 times more than oil and gas drilling or coal mining.

If we can put the right policies in place, we are poised to make dramatic progress toward a clean energy future. In fact, President Biden has proposed a target of the country running on 80 percent clean electricity by 2030. To meet that target, we will need to ramp up efficiency and cut energy demand in half, increase renewable energy resources to supply at least 80 percent of our power, electrify almost all forms of transportation, and get fossil fuels out of our buildings. Achieving these goals will require sustained, coordinated policy efforts from all levels of government, the private sector, and local communities. But with the proven, demonstrated clean energy technologies and resources that we have today, we know we can do it.
This story was originally published on June 29, 2018, and has been updated with new information and links.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mining, drilling, and burning dirty energy are harming the environment and our health. Here's everything you need to know about fossil fuels, and why we need to embrace a clean energy future.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Image

Photograph by Hywit Dimyadi/Shutterstock

Fossil fuels are made from decomposing plants and animals. These fuels are found in Earth's crust and contain carbon and hydrogen, which can be burned for energy. Coal, oil, and natural gas are examples of fossil fuels. Coal is a material usually found in sedimentary rock deposits where rock and dead plant and animal matter are piled up in layers. More than 50 percent of a piece of coal's weight must be from fossilized plants. Oil is originally found as a solid material between layers of sedimentary rock, like shale. This material is heated in order to produce the thick oil that can be used to make gasoline. Natural gas is usually found in pockets above oil deposits. It can also be found in sedimentary rock layers that don't contain oil. Natural gas is primarily made up of methane.

According to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, 81 percent of the total energy used in the United States comes from coal, oil, and natural gas. This is the energy that is used to heat and provide electricity to homes and businesses and to run cars and factories. Unfortunately, fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource and waiting millions of years for new coal, oil, and natural gas deposits to form is not a realistic solution. Fossil fuels are also responsible for almost three-fourths of the emissions from human activities in the last 20 years. Now, scientists and engineers have been looking for ways to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and to make burning these fuels cleaner and healthier for the environment.

Scientists across the country and around the world are trying to find solutions to fossil fuel problems so that there is enough fuel and a healthy environment to sustain human life and activities in the future. The United States Department of Energy is working on technologies to make commercially available natural-gas-powered vehicles. They are also trying to make coal burning and oil drilling cleaner. Researchers at Stanford University in California have been using greener technologies to figure out a way to burn fossil fuels while lessening their impact on the environment. One solution is to use more natural gas, which emits 50 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than coal does. The Stanford team is also trying to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it underground-a process called carbon capture and sequestration. Scientists at both Stanford and the University of Bath in the United Kingdom are trying something completely new by using carbon dioxide and sugar to make renewable plastic.

Director

Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society

Author

National Geographic Society

Production Managers

Gina Borgia, National Geographic Society

Jeanna Sullivan, National Geographic Society

Program Specialists

Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society, National Geographic Society

Margot Willis, National Geographic Society

Last Updated

October 19, 2023

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is a fossil fuel and what is being done to make fossil fuels more environmentally friendly?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fossil fuels—including coal, oil, and natural gas—have been powering economies for over 150 years, and currently supply about 80 percent of the world’s energy. Fossil fuels formed millions of years ago from the carbon-rich remains of animals and plants, as they decomposed and were compressed and hea…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A fossil fuel is a natural substance formed from the buried remains of ancient organisms that can be used as a source of energy. Fossil fuels formed over millions of years as...

# data[].attributes.body
🥰men

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
History of Alternative Energy and Fossil Fuels

Other sites are welcome to link to this page, but not to reproduce or repurpose our copyrighted content. Please see our reprinting policy for details on how to request permission to reprint ProCon.org content.

- Windmills Built in Persia to Grind Grain and Pump Water

"For the tenth century, we have material proof that windmills were turning in the blustery Seistan region of Persia. These primitive, vertical carousel-type mills utilized the wind to grind corn, and to raise water from streams to irrigate gardens... [T]heir use soon spread to India, other parts of the Muslim world, and China, where farmers employed them to pump water, grind grain, and crush sugarcane."

Wind Energy in America: A History, 1996

"The mill reached its greatest size and its most efficient form in the hands of the Dutch engineers toward the end of the sixteenth century... The Dutch provinces... developed the windmill to the fullest possible degree: it ground the grain produced on the rich meadows, it sawed the wood... and it ground the spices...

Above all, the windmill was the chief agent in land reclamation. The threat of inundation by the sea led these North Sea fishermen and farmers to attempt not only to control the water itself, but by keeping it back, to add to the land...

Once the dykes were built, however, the problem was how to keep the area under the level of the sea clear of water: the windmill... was the means of raising the water of the rising streams and canals: it maintained the balance between the water and the land that made life possible in this precarious situation."

Technics and Civilization, 1934

"Experimenters... discovered that the roasting process used to make charcoal [from wood] could be adapted to coal, the result being an extremely hot-burning fuel called coke. The use of coke in iron and steel production, beginning in England in the 17th century, would so transform those industries as to constitute one of the key developments paving the way for the industrial revolution."

The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, 2005

- Coal Begins to Displace Use of Other Energies

"The great shift in population and industry that took place in the eighteenth century was due to the introduction of coal as a source of mechanical power, to the use of new means of making that power effective - the steam engine - and to new methods of smelting and working up iron. Out of this coal and iron complex, a new civilization developed...

By the end of the eighteenth century coal began to take the place of current sources of energy... Wood, wind, water, beeswax, tallow, sperm-oil - all these were displaced steadily by coal and derivatives of coal...

In the economy of the earth, the large-scale opening up of coal seams meant that industry was beginning to live for the first time on an accumulation of potential energy, derived from the ferns of the carboniferous period, instead of upon current income."

Technics and Civilization, 1934

"By 1700 [coal] mine shafts were as deep as 200 feet. There were problems down there with gases and especially with flooding... Muscle, animal and human, and sometimes watermills and windmills were put to work lifting the water out of the mines, but it was an endless battle that technology circa 1700 could not win...

Coal, the Carboniferous legacy of stored sunlight, would solve that problem. Coal would be burned to power the heat engine...

[Thomas] Newcomen... built a steam machine close by a coal shaft... in 1712... Newcomen's first machine made twelve strokes a minute, raising 10 gallons of water with each stroke. Its strength is estimated at 5.5 horsepower, not impressive to us, but the 'fire engine,' as it was sometimes called, was a sensation in power-starved Britain and Europe. Soon there were scores of Newcomen engines, most nodding at the pitheads of Britain's mines, which now could be dug twice as deep as before. In 1700, Britain produced 2.7 million metric tons of coal; in 1815, 23 million tons. That sum was twenty times in energy equivalent what the existing woodlands of Britain could produce in a year...

Thomas Newcomen's invention was the first machine to provide significantly large amounts of power not derived from muscle, water, or wind... If I were to attempt anything so simple-minded as to pick a birthday for the industrial revolution, it would be the first day that Newcomen's machine began operating in 1712."

Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite for Energy, 2006

- First Coal Powered Iron Forges Are Developed in New England

"In the early 1830's... American iron was still being produced by charcoal. New England still relied on Europe for most of its iron supply, little metal was yet used in machinery, and steam was hardly employed at all as a source of power. This lag in the use of iron and steam appears to have held back high volume factory production in all industries except textiles. Then in the 1830's and 1840's, these patterns began to change quickly. A revolution in American iron making began in the 1830's with the use of coal in the making of wrought iron, and then in the 1840's in the production of cast iron with the adoption of the coal-using furnaces in eastern Pennsylvania. In the same decades, steam began for the first time to be used extensively in industrial production."

"Anthracite Coal and the Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in the United States," The Business History Review, Summer 1972

- Windmill Becomes Popular Water Pumping Tool of Western Homesteaders and Railroad Builders

"Wind as the force behind water-pumping windmills proved quite pivotal in the settling of the West. Such water pumps assisted early pioneers and they are still in use today... This windmill represented intermediate technology at its best. It transformed the abundant wind into an agent to alleviate the shortage of water. It liberated groundwater for a moisture-poor region, providing the technology necessary to settle vast tracts of the rangeland...

Although it was the Western environment that created the demand for a new windmill, a Connecticut mechanic, by the name of Daniel Halladay, provided the inventive genius. In 1857, Halladay, having perfected his windmill, formed the Halladay Wind Mill Company...

It was Western railroad builders who first used the Halladay windmill. Hand in hand with the first transcontinental railroad came the windmill, providing water to the thirsty Union Pacific steam locomotives...

In the years to follow... water-pumping windmills dotted the US landscape. There is no way accurately to estimate their numbers, but some authorities have offered a figure of more than six million."

Wind Energy in America: A History, 1996

"Worried by the possibility of fossil fuels, such as coal, running out, Augustine Mouchot develops a solar powered steam generation system to drive industrial machinery.

Mouchot felt it was possible that the sun's heat could replace the burning of coal to run Europe's industries.

Mouchot's research into mirror technology led him to develop the first sun motor. The sun motor used the heat from concentrated sunlight to produce steam which was used to drive machinery."

From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity, 1999

- First Commercial Scale Hydroelectric Plant Goes into Operation in Appleton, Wisconsin

"It was on Saturday night, September 30, 1882, that one of the world's first hydro-electric central stations was placed in successful operation in Appleton, Wisconsin. As late as 1977, local enthusiasm identified the installation as the 'world's first hydro-electric central station.' This statement has since been corrected to read 'the first hydro-electric central station to serve a system of private and commercial customers in North America.' Whether first built or first in service, it was a significant engineering achievement for its time...

Three buildings were lighted initially- two paper mills and one residence. The people of Appleton reportedly went to view them in those early fall evenings and marveled, declaring them to be 'as bright as day.'...

Progress was rapid. A second dynamo was purchased in 1882 and placed into service on November 25th. Early in 1883 the Waverly House was wired, reportedly becoming the first hotel in the western part of the United States with electric light. Two larger generators were acquired in 1886 and placed in a new central plant to which the original dynamos were also moved.

The Vulcan Street Plant had an 'Elmer' waterwheel, so named because it was patented by Mr. Elmer of Berlin, Wisconsin. The output of the original dynamo was 12.5 KW and was capable of lighting 250 sixteen-candlepower lamps."

"Vulcan Street Power Plant," www.asme.org (accessed May 21, 2009)

Charles F. Brush develops the world's first windmill that can generate electricity as described in an 1890 issue of Scientific American:

"With the exception of the gigantic windmill and electric plant shown... we do not know of a successful system of electric lighting operated by means of wind power.

The mill here shown, as well as all of the electrical apparatus used in connection with it... have been designed and carried out according to the plans of Mr. Charles F. Brush, of Cleveland Ohio...

The speed of the dynamo at full load is 500 revolutions per minute, and its normal capacity at full load is 12,000 watts...

In the basement of Mr. Brush's house there are 408 secondary battery cells arranged in 12 batteries of 34 cells each...

The house is furnished with 350 incandescent lights... two arch lights and three electric motors. It is found after continued use of this electric plant that the amount of attention required to keep it in working condition is practically nothing. It has been in constant operation more than two years, and has proved in every respect a complete success."

"Mr. Brush's Windmill Dynamo," Dec. 20, 1890

In 1905 Albert Einstein publishes the first theoretical work describing the photovoltaic effect titled "Concerning an Heuristic Point of View Toward the Emission and Transformation of Light." In the paper "he showed that light possesses an attribute that earlier scientists had not recognized. Light, Einstein discovered, contains packets of energy, which he called light quanta...

Einstein's bold and novel description of light, combined with the [1898] discovery of the electron... gave scientists in the second decade of the twentieth century a better understanding of photo electricity. They saw that the more powerful photons carry enough energy to knock poorly linked electrons from their atomic orbits in materials like selenium. When wires are attached, the liberated electrons flow through them as electricity... by the 1920s scientists referred to the phenomenon as the photovoltaic effect."

From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity, 1999

"Concerning an Heuristic Point of View Toward the Emission and Transformation of Light," Mar. 17, 1905

"The President [Theodore Roosevelt] today signed the Denatured Alcohol bill [Free Alcohol Bill].

This measure provides that alcohol manufactured for use in the arts or industries shall be free from the internal revenue tax when so treated as to be made a poison and so unfit for drinking. It is designed to start a great industry that will furnish cheap fuel for many purposes for which gasoline is now used."

"In 1906, Teddy Roosevelt, seeking a competitor to Big Oil, convinced Congress to lift the Spirits Tax. The ethanol industry was back in business. By the end of World War I it was producing some 50 million gallons a year."

New York Times, "Free Alcohol Bill Signed," June 9, 1906

"West Wing's Ethanol Problem," www.alternet.org, Feb. 2, 2005

- Studies on Alcohol Fuel (Ethanol) Find Advantages over Petroleum Fuels Such as Gasoline and Kerosene

"Studies of alcohol as an internal combustion engine fuel began in the U.S. with the Edison Electric Testing Laboratory and Columbia University in 1906. Elihu Thomson reported that despite a smaller heat or B.T.U. [British Thermal Unit] value, 'a gallon of alcohol will develop substantially the same power in an internal combustion engine as a gallon of gasoline. This is owing to the superior efficiency of operation...' Other researchers confirmed the same phenomena around the same time.

USDA [United States Department of Agriculture] tests in 1906 also demonstrated the efficiency of alcohol in engines and described how gasoline engines could be modified for higher power with pure alcohol fuel or for equivalent fuel consumption, depending on the need. The U.S. Geological Service and the U.S. Navy performed 2000 tests on alcohol and gasoline engines in 1907 and 1908 in Norfolk, Va. and St. Louis, Mo. They found that much higher engine compression ratios could be achieved with alcohol than with gasoline.

When the compression ratios were adjusted for each fuel, fuel economy was virtually equal despite the greater B.T.U. value of gasoline. 'In regard to general cleanliness, such as absence of smoke and disagreeable odors, alcohol has many advantages over gasoline or kerosene as a fuel,' the report said. 'The exhaust from an alcohol engine is never clouded with a black or grayish smoke.' USGS [United States Geological Service] continued the comparative tests and later noted that alcohol was 'a more ideal fuel than gasoline' with better efficiency despite the high cost."

"Henry Ford, Charles Kettering and the Fuel of the Future," Automotive History Review, Spring 1998

"Final decision was returned late this afternoon [May 15, 1911] by the Supreme Court of the United States in one of the two great trust cases which have been before it for so long - that of the Standard Oil Company. The decree of the Circuit Court for the Eighth Circuit directing the dissolution of the Oil Trust was affirmed [in an 8-1 decision], with minor modifications...

Broadly speaking, the court determines against the Standard Oil Company on the ground that it is a combination in unreasonable restraint of inter-State commerce [under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act]..."

"Rockefeller's cutthroat business tactics and near monopolization of the domestic industry led to an anti-trust suit brought by the Federal Government. In 1911, a decision of the Supreme Court forced the breakup of Standard Oil Company into Standard Oil of New Jersey (which later became Exxon), Standard Oil of New York (Mobil), Standard Oil of California (Chevron), Standard Oil Of Ohio (Sohio, later acquired by BP), Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco, now BP), Continental Oil (Conoco), and Atlantic (later Atlantic Richfield, then ARCO, then sun, now BP). Rockefeller eventually profited handsomely from the split, and the new companies carefully avoided directly competing with one another."

New York Times, "Standard Oil Company Must Dissolve in 6 Months; Only Unreasonable Restraint of Trade Forbidden," May 16, 1911

Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, May 15, 1911

The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, 2005

- First Federal Law Established to Control Pollution from the Oil Industry

"The federal government established a precedent for combating oil pollution when it passed the Oil Pollution Control Act in 1924. The contamination of water from tanker discharges and seepage problems on land were the primary problems. The former attracted the most attention largely because the polluting of waterways and coastal areas affected commercial fishermen and resort owners...

The Oil Pollution Act of 1924 had inadequate enforcement provisions and dealt only with dumping fuel at sea by oil-burning vessels.

Although the Oil Pollution Act disappointed [US President Herbert] Hoover and the conservationists, it was the first serious attempt to deal with the issue on a national scale. The problem did not receive serious attention again until the Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969."

"Energy and Environment in the United States: The Era of Fossil Fuels," Environmental Review, Fall 1987

- First Commercial Wind Turbines Sold to Generate Electricity on Remote Farms

Marcellus and Joe Jacobs develop the first commercially available wind turbine for electricity generation.

The brothers knew that many remote farms were unable to electrify without using gasoline generators. Gasoline generators were too costly and inconvienient for many remote farms since gasoline had to be constantly transported in bulk over large distances. As a result, many farms remained unelectrified.

The Jacob brothers created a wind powered turbine based on the design of earlier water pump mills. The design succeeds when they replace the blades of the water pump mills with modern air plane propellers.

In 1927 the Jacobs Wind Electric Company is formed. Between 1927 and 1957 the company sells over 30,000 units.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s hundreds of thousands of wind-electric systems were in operation around the country with a similar design to the

Wind Energy in America: A History, 1996

- Alcohol Fuel Production Promoted to Combat the Great Depression

"By the 1930s, with the country caught in the depths of the Great Depression, new ideas were welcome. Corn prices had dropped from 45 cents per bushel to 10 cents, it was only natural that people in Midwestern business and science would begin thinking about new uses for farm products...

[T]he movement for alcohol fuels... came to be seen as part of a broader campaign for industrial uses for farm crops to help fight the Depression...

By 1937 motorists from Indiana to South Dakota were urged to use Agrol, an ethyl alcohol blend with gasoline. Two types were available -- Agrol 5, with five to seven percent alcohol, and Agrol 10, with twelve and a half to 17 and a half percent alcohol. 'Try a tankfull -- you'll be thankful,' the Agrol brochures said. The blend was sold to high initial enthusiasm at 2,000 service stations... However, Agrol plant managers complained of sabotage and bitter infighting by the oil industry...

By 1939, the Atchison Agrol plant closed its doors, not in bankruptcy, but without viable markets to continue."

"Henry Ford, Charles Kettering and the Fuel of the Future," Automotive History Review, Spring 1998

- US Congress Passes Atomic Energy Act of 1954

"In 1954, Congress passed new legislation that for the first time permitted the wide use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. The 1954 Atomic Energy Act redefined the atomic energy program by ending the government monopoly on technical data and making the growth of a private commercial nuclear industry an urgent national goal. The measure directed the AEC [Atomic Energy Commission] 'to encourage widespread participation in the development and utilization of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.' At the same time, it instructed the agency to prepare regulations that would protect public health and safety from radiation hazards. Thus, the 1954 act assigned the AEC three major roles: to continue its weapons program, to promote the private use of atomic energy for peaceful applications, and to protect public health and safety from the hazards of commercial nuclear power."

"A Short History of Nuclear Regulation, 1946-1999," www.nrc.gov (accessed May 19, 2009)

Atomic Energy Act of 1946

- M. King Hubbard Develops the "Hubberts Peak Theory" for Measuring Oil Supply; Peak of US Oil Production Correctly Predicted

The Hubbert's peak theory states that for any given geographical area, oil production follows a bell shaped curve where oil production will rise to a peak, followed by a sharp decline. "In 1949, he [M. King Hubbert] used statistical and physical methods to calculate total world oil and natural gas supplies and documented their sharply increasing consumption. Then, in 1956, on the basis of his reserve estimates and his study of the lifetime production profile of typical oil reservoirs, he predicted that the peak of crude-oil production in the United States would occur between 1966 and 1972. At the time, most economists, oil companies, and government agencies (including the USGS) [United States Geological Service] dismissed the prediction. The actual peak of US oil production occurred in 1970." Hubbert's theory came to be known as the "Hubbert's Peak Theory" and continues to be one of the primary theories used to study the peaking of oil supplies.

The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, 2005

"Neither strip mining nor air pollution riveted attention on the environmental consequences of energy exploitation like the Santa Barbara oil spill. At the time of the spill in January 1969, 925 wells had been drilled along the coastal tidelands from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. Moreover, industrial concern over oil leaks was negligible; faith in the existing technology and the drive for profit limited the incentive to protect against the worst case...

When Union Oil's well, A-21, blew on January 28, it leaked 235,000 gallons of crude, creating a slick of 800 miles. Although Washington responded with investigations and studies, that process offered little immediate relief to Santa Barbara. Commercial fishermen and owners of beach-front property brought lawsuits against Union Oil, and the state initiated lawsuits against the federal government. While Union Oil assumed liability for the blow-out, the financial settlements were well below the total damage. Congress tightened regulations on leases and made offshore operators liable for cleaning spills."

"Energy and Environment in the United States: The Era of Fossil Fuels," Environmental Review, Fall 1987

- OPEC Oil Embargo Against the US Causes Gas Shortages and Rationing

"During the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced an embargo against the United States in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military during the war. Arab oil producers also extended the embargo to other countries that supported Israel. The embargo both banned petroleum exports to the targeted nations and introduced cuts in oil production. Several years of negotiations between oil producing nations and oil companies had already destabilized a decades-old system of oil pricing, and thus the Arab oil embargo was particularly effective.

Implementation of the embargo, and the changing nature of oil contracts, set off an upward spiral in oil prices that had global implications. The price of oil per barrel doubled, then quadrupled, leading to increased costs for consumers world-wide and to the potential for budgetary collapse in less stable economies. Since the embargo coincided with a devaluation of the dollar, a global recession appeared imminent. U.S. allies in Europe and Japan had stockpiled oil supplies and thus had a short term cushion, but the longer term possibility of high oil prices and recession created a strong rift within the Atlantic alliance. European nations and Japan sought to disassociate themselves from the U.S. Middle East policy. The United States, which faced growing oil consumption and dwindling domestic reserves and was more reliant on imported oil than ever before, had to negotiate an end to the embargo from a weaker international position."

Due to gasoline shortages, Oregon and many other states impose gasoline rationing. "[O]fficials in Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Washington, B.C., Bade County, Fla., and other areas... adopted Oregon-type rationing schemes that will allow motorists with even-numbered license plates to buy gas on even-numbered dates, and those with odd-numbered plates to buy on odd-numbered dates. Some states have begun requiring a $3 minimum purchase."

"Gas Fever: Happiness Is a Full Tank," Feb. 18, 1974

US Department of State "Second Arab Oil Embargo, 1973-1974," state.gov (accessed May 29, 2009)

- Federal Surface Mining Control Act Signed to Lessen Environmental Impacts of Surface Coal Mining

"The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) was enacted in 1977 after the US Congress recognized the need to regulate mining activity, rehabilitate abandoned mines, and protect society and the environment from the adverse effects of mining operations.

Before 1977, surface coal mining landowners had abandoned 1.1 million coal mine sites in the United States.

The SMCRA directed owners of coal mines to contribute bonds for land rehabilitation and environmental damages caused by mining activities... The SMCRA did not prohibit mountaintop coal mining, an activity that steadily increased after 1977.

"Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, United States," www.eoearth.org, Nov. 15, 2007

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, Aug. 3, 1977

- World's First Solar Powered Village; Tohono O'odham Reservation, Arizona

"NASA's Lewis Research Center (now NASA Glenn) dedicated a solar power system that it installed on the Papago [Tonono O'odham] Indian Reservation in Schuchuli, Ariz. It was the world's first solar-powered village. The system provided power for water pumping and residential electricity to 15 homes until 1983, when grid power reached the village. At that time, engineers hooked up the homes to the grid, and the solar system began pumping water from a community well."

"Exploration," www.nasa.gov (accessed July 21, 2009)

[ Editors Note: Soldier's Grove, Wisconsin also considers itself America's first solar village. By 1982, 50% of the community's heating was solar power generated.]

- Solar Photovoltaic Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1978

"I am signing today H.R. 12874, the Solar Photovoltaic Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1978, a bill that authorizes an aggressive program of research, development, and demonstration of solar photovoltaic energy technologies.

The bill's long-term goal is to make electricity from photovoltaic systems economically competitive with electricity from conventional sources...

It is still too early to concentrate on commercialization of photovoltaics. Photovoltaic systems hold great promise, but in the short run we must emphasize research and development, including fundamental work on the physical properties of these systems...

Therefore, I will not propose to the Congress that a broad Federal solar photovoltaic purchase program tied to the specific goals of this act be undertaken soon. Rather, consistent with congressional intent, we will focus on research and development that will accelerate cost reductions. We will also continue, where appropriate, small, carefully targeted photovoltaic purchases to meet technical objectives. This approach should lay a firm foundation for the advancement of solar power from photovoltaics in the future."

"Solar Photovoltaic Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1978 Statement on Signing H.R. 12874 into Law," www.presidency.ucsb.edu, Nov. 4, 1978

"[Altamont Pass]... in Northern California, is home to one of the oldest wind farms in the U.S. and the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world. Altamont Pass is located one hour east of San Francisco, California and serves as a temperature buffer for the city by separating it from the heat of the San Joaquin Valley. Altamont Pass wind farm construction began in 1981 in response to favorable federal and state legislation that resulted from the energy price increases of the 1970s.

The Altamont wind farm consists of about 4,800 small wind turbines with a capacity of 576 megawatts (MW) annual generation of about 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity. The Altamont wind resource area is one of three primary regions, the others being Tehachapi and San Gorgonio [California]."

"Every year, an estimated 75 to 110 Golden Eagles are killed by the wind turbines in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA). Some lose their wings, others are decapitated, and still others are cut in half. The lethal turbines, numbering roughly 6,000, are arrayed across 50,000 acres of rolling hills in northeastern Alameda and southeastern Contra Costa counties...

[A]s many as 380 Burrowing Owls (also a state-designated species of special concern), 300 Red-tailed Hawks, and 333 American Kestrels are killed every year. In all, as many as 4,700 birds die annually as a result of the wind turbines."

Melissa Lowitz, MA "Altamont Pass, California," www.eoearth.org, Mar. 25, 2008

"Avian Mortality at Altamont Pass," www.goldengateaudubon.org (accessed June 3, 2009)

"Early in the morning on Good Friday, March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound. The grounding ripped the bottom of the single-hulled vessel, resulting in the rupture of 11 of the vessel's crude oil tanks and the release of nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into the environment. It was, and still is, the largest oil spill in United States waters... [Two days later] on the evening of March 26, a severe winter storm blew into the Sound. The oil slick went from a relatively compact mass to a widely dispersed collection of patches and streaks, and response vessels were forced to run for shelter in the face of the storm. The oil soon hit the beaches in hundreds of places [across 1,300 miles of coastline], overwhelming any efforts to stop it... Over the next five-and-a-half months the cleanup operations grew exponentially, ultimately becoming the largest private project in Alaska since construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. At one point more than 11,000 people were working on cleanup... An estimated 250,000 seabirds were killed by oil in the weeks and months following the spill... Carcasses recovered after the spill [also] included: 1,000 sea otters, 151 bald eagles, 838 cormorants, 1,100 marbled murrelets, and over 33,189 other birds." In a criminal plea agreement, Exxon Corporation was fined $150 million - the largest fine ever imposed for an environmental crime. In addition Exxon also paid $100 million in criminal restitution for injuries caused as well as $900 million in civil penalties to be used for habitat restoration.

"Legacy of an Oil Spill: 20 Years after Exxon Valdez," www.evostc.state.ak.us, Mar. 24, 2009

- Congress Passes Act to Stimulate Development of Hydrogen Power

The US Congress passes the Spark M. Matsunaga Hydrogen Research, Development, and Demonstration Program Act of 1990 "to accelerate efforts to develop a domestic capability to economically produce hydrogen in quantities that will make a significant contribution toward reducing the Nation's dependence on conventional fuels." <br><br>The purposes of the Act were to develop "a comprehensive 5-year comprehensive program management plan that will identify and resolve critical technical issues necessary for the realization of a domestic capability to produce, distribute, and use hydrogen economically within the shortest time practicable; to direct the Secretary to develop a technology assessment and information transfer program among the Federal agencies and aerospace, transportation, energy, and other entities; and to develop renewable energy resources as a primary source of energy for the production of hydrogen."

Spark M. Matsunaga Hydrogen Research, Development, and Demonstration Program Act of 1990, Jan. 23, 1990

- Plans Announced to Build FutureGen, the Worlds First Zero Emissions Coal Power Plant

"On February 27, 2003, the President announced FutureGen as a cost-shared project between DOE [Department of Energy] and industry to create the world's first coal-fired, zero emissions electricity and hydrogen production power plant. The production of hydrogen was to support the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative to create a hydrogen economy for transportation. The original FutureGen plant was planned to operate at a commercial scale as a 275 megawatt IGCC [Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle] facility that would capture and store at least 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year."

"Clean Coal: DOE's Decision to Restructure FutureGen Should Be Based on a Comprehensive Analysis of Costs, Benefits, and Risks," www.gao.gov, Feb. 2009

[ Editor's Note: On Jan. 30, 2008, US Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman announced a "restructured" approach to the FutureGen project that focused on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and excluded hydrogen production as part of the project.]

United States Department of Energy (DOE), "DOE Announces Restructured FutureGen Approach to Demonstrate CCS Technology at Multiple Clean Coal Plants," www.energy.gov, Jan. 30, 2008

- National Biofuel Action Plan Unveiled

"Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Ed Schafer and Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today released the National Biofuels Action Plan (NBAP), an interagency plan detailing the collaborative efforts of Federal agencies to accelerate the development of a sustainable biofuels industry... The NBAP was developed in response to President Bush's plans to change the way America fuels its transportation fleets... The President's 'Twenty In Ten' goal calls for cutting U.S. gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years by investing in renewable and alternative fuel sources, increasing vehicle efficiency and developing alternative fuel vehicles... Interagency working groups have been chartered with near term deadlines to deliver such key results as: the development of science-based sustainability criteria and indicators, 10- year R&D forecasts for research to develop cost-effective methods of producing cellulosic biofuels from non-food based feedstock, to advance these next generation biofuels to commercialization, and recommendations on infrastructure issues. DOE has dedicated more than $1 billion to research, development, and demonstration of cellulosic biofuels technology through 2009."

"USDA & DOE Release National Biofuels Action Plan," www.energy.gov, Oct. 7, 2008

National Biofuels Action Plan, Oct. 2008

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes billions in energy investments, including grants and loan guarantees for renewable energy development, fossil fuel development, energy efficiency programs, energy storage technology, and electric grid modernization.

Section H.R. 1-24 of the Act allocates $16.8 billion to the Department of Energy for "energy efficiency and renewable energy" programs. Out of this $16.8 billion, $3.5 billion will go to renewable energy projects such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels development. $11.3 billion will go to energy efficiency and conservation programs, and $2 billion will go to advanced battery development.

Section H.R. 1-24 also contains $4.5 billion for modernizing the electrical grid and an additional $6 billion is allocated to loan guarantees for renewable energy and energy transmission, carbon capture and storage technology, and other green house gas reduction technologies.

The section also contains $3.4 billion for fossil energy research and development.

In support of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, President Barack Obama stated:

"[W]e are taking big steps down the road to energy independence, laying the groundwork for new green energy economies that can create countless well-paying jobs. It's an investment that will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years...

[W]e will transform the way we use energy. Today, the electricity we use is carried along a grid of lines and wires that date back to Thomas Edison - a grid that can't support the demands of this economy. This means we're using 19th and 20th century technologies to battle 21st century problems like climate change and energy security...

The investment we're making today will create a newer, smarter electric grid that will allow for broader use of alternative energy."

"Remarks by the President and Vice President at Signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009," www.whitehouse.gov, Feb. 17, 2009

"American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009," Feb. 17, 2009

- President Obama Issues Presidential Directive to USDA to Expand Access to Biofuels; $786.5 Million in Biofuels Funding Announced

"President Obama issued a presidential directive today to Secretary Vilsack to aggressively accelerate the investment in and production of biofuels...

The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will develop the nation's first comprehensive biofuels market development program. The increased collaboration between federal agencies will accelerate the production of and access to sustainable homegrown energy options by coordinating policies that impact the supply, secure transport, and distribution of biofuels, as well as identifying new policy options to improve the environmental sustainability of biofuels feedstock production.

The Biofuels Interagency Working Group [comprised of the USDA, EPA, and the DOE] will also work to develop policies to increase flexible fuel vehicle production and assist in retail marketing efforts while also taking into consideration land use, habitat conservation, crop management practices, water efficiency and water quality, and lifecycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions."

"As part of the ongoing effort to increase the use of domestic renewable fuels, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced plans to provide $786.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to accelerate advanced biofuels research and development and to provide additional funding for commercial-scale biorefinery demonstration projects... The DOE biomass program will leverage DOE's national laboratories, universities, and the private sector to help improve biofuels reliability and overcome key technical challenges, with the goal of creating third-generation biofuels like green gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels."

"Secretary Chu Announces Nearly $800 Million from Recovery Act to Accelerate Biofuels Research and Commercialization," www.energy.gov, May 5, 2009

US Department of Agriculture (USDA) "President Obama Issues Presidential Directive to USDA to Expand Access to Biofuels," www.usda.gov, May 5, 2009

On Apr. 20, 2010, the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil rig 52 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 crew members.

On Apr. 22 the drilling rig sank 5,000 feet to the ocean floor, causing a series of breaks in the oil pipeline. Initially it was estimated by BP that about 1,000 barrels of oil a day were leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from the broken pipe.

On Apr. 28, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated the pipe was leaking closer to 5,000 barrels a day into the Gulf.

By May 27, the US Department of Interior's Flow Rate Technical Group (a group set up to monitor the rate of oil leakage) stated that the well was actually leaking between 12,000-19,000 barrels a day.

Based upon these May 27 estimates, as much as 30 million gallons of oil had leaked into the Gulf, making the leak/spill the largest in US history - nearly three times the amount spilled during the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.

"Estimates Suggest Spill Is Biggest in US History," May, 27, 2010

- Earthquake off Coast of Japan Damages Six Powerplants at Fukushima Dai-ichi; Nuclear Crisis Eventually Reaches Level 7, the Highest Level Possible

Mar. 11, 2011: "A magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan's northeastern coast, knocking out power and swamping the backup diesel generators needed to cool the six reactors and spent fuel pools at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant."

Mar. 12, 2011: "Engineers scramble to prevent a nuclear meltdown. Some of the reactors begin to grow hotter with their cooling systems disabled. A hydrogen explosion rocks Unit 1, causing a radiation leak. Workers furiously pump seawater into the reactor's core."

Mar. 14, 2011: "Crisis depeens at Fukushima Dai-ichi. The pressure and heat continue to build in Unit 3, resulting in a hydrogen explosion that destroys the outer containment building. Fuel rods at Unit 2 are fully exposed to air twice, worrying officials. Workers pump seawater into the cores of Units 1, 2 and 3."

Mar. 15, 2011: "Unit 2 becomes the new focal point as a hydrogen explosion occurs there and its suppression pool is damaged. Explosion and fires also plague Unit 4, and leak radiation into the atmosphere. The government evacuates residents from the 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius around the plant."

Mar. 16, 2011: "Another fire at Unit 4 hinders efforts to get the reactors and spent fuel pools under control. Steam and smoke rise from Unit 3, due to evaporation of water in the spent fuel pool. Radiation levels surge. The U.S. government advises its citizens within 50 miles of the plant to evacuate."

Mar. 30, 2011: "Japanese officials say seawater outside of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant contains more than 3,300 times the normal amount of radioactive iodine."

Apr. 11, 2011: "Japan's nuclear regulators raised the severity level of the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing the amount of radiation released in the accident. The regulators said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 - the highest level on an international scale overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency."

"Timeline: A Nuclear Crisis Unfolds in Japan," www.npr.org (accessed May 5, 2011)

- EPA Announces First Clean Air Act Standard for Carbon Pollution from New Power Plants

On Mar. 27, 2012 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the first Clean Air Act standard for carbon pollution from new power plants. The rule applies to all new power plants that burn fossil fuel to create electricity including coal and natural gas fired power plants.

The new rule proposes that new fossil fuel power plants must meet an output-based standard of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour.

According to the EPA 95% of the new natural gas combined cycle power plants that have been built since 2005 already meet the standard.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "the newest natural-gas-fired power plants [as of 2012] emit about 800 pounds of carbon per megawatt hour, new coal plants, between 1,600 to about 1,900 pounds per megawatt hour."

"Obama Administration Sets Limits On Power Plant Emissions," www.latimes.com, Mar. 27, 2012

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "EPA FACT SHEET: Proposed Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants," www.epa.gov, Mar. 27, 2012

- EPA Issues First Ever Clean Air Rules for Natural Gas Produced by Fracking

On Apr. 17, 2012 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the first ever federal rules on air pollution from wells that utilize hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) to produce natural gas.

"The final rules include the first federal air standards for natural gas wells that are hydraulically fractured, along with requirements for several other sources of pollution in the oil and gas industry that currently are not regulated at the federal level...

A key component of the final rules is expected to yield a nearly 95 percent reduction in VOCs [volatile organic compounds] emitted from more than 11,000 new hydraulically fractured gas wells each year...

[T]he reductions would yield a significant environmental co-benefit by reducing methane emissions from new and modified wells. Methane, the primary constituent of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas - more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide when emitted directly to the atmosphere...

Today's final rules also would protect against potential cancer risks from emissions of several air toxics, including benzene."

"Overview of Final Amendments to Air Regulations for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry," www.epa.gov, Apr. 17, 2012

"The Environmental Protection Agency's second stab at a proposal to set the first-ever limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants would make it impossible for companies to build the kind of coal-fired plants that have been the country's biggest source of electricity for decades.

Under the proposal, released Friday, any new plant that runs on coal would only be permitted to emit about half as much carbon dioxide as an average coal plant puts into the air today...

The EPA proposal aims to help The White House to cut greenhouse gas emissions by attacking the largest single source in the United States: Power plants pump out 40 percent of the nation's greenhouse gases.

The EPA's new proposal sets a limit for future power plants of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour for large electricity generators that are powered by natural gas. And it sets a slightly higher limit of 1,100 po

unds of CO2 per megawatt-hour for small natural gas generators and for coal-fired generators... The revised proposal comes after loud complaints from industry about the first version of the proposed rule, which was released 18 months ago."

"EPA Wants to Limit Greenhouse Gases from New Coal Power Plants," npr.org, Sep. 20, 2013

"Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units," www.epa.gov, Sep. 20, 2013

[ Editor's note : The original Mar. 27, 2012 proposed rule to limit greenhouse gases from power plants was withdrawn by the EPA and replaced with this current Sep. 20, 2013 proposal. There will be a 60 day comment period on this proposal. After that, the EPA has one year to finalize the rule.]

"As the largest concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the world, Ivanpah harnesses the abundant sunlight of the Southwest United States to provide power on a massive scale. The facility has the capacity to generate 392 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity - enough to power 94,400 average American homes. Most of the power generated by the system will be sold under long-term power purchase agreements to Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison Company...

Ivanpah significantly expands the use of CSP technologies within the United States. Its innovative power-tower technology utilizes a field of mirrors called heliostats to track the sun and focus sunlight onto boilers that sit atop 459-foot tall towers. When the sunlight hits the boiler, it heats the water inside to create superheated steam used to spin an electricity-generating turbine."

"Celebrating the Completion of the World's Largest Concentrating Solar Power Plant," energy.gov, Feb. 13, 2014

[ Editor's Note : In April 2014, the US Fish and Wildlife Service released a report on bird deaths at the new Ivanpah concentrated solar power plant, and two other plants. They found that Ivanpah "may act as a 'mega-trap,' attracting insects, which in turn attract insect-eating birds, which are incapacitated by solar flux injury." While researching the report, staff observed birds entering the area of concentrated light (the solar flux) and igniting. During the study period, July 2012 to Dec. 2013, the remains of 141 birds were studied. At that time, Ivanpah was not yet fully operational, and was running at 33% capacity.]

- President Obama Announces Solar Power Commitments and Executive Actions

"Today, President Obama announced more than 300 private and public sector commitments to create jobs and cut carbon pollution by advancing solar deployment and energy efficiency. The commitments represent more than 850 megawatts of solar deployed - enough to power nearly 130,000 homes."

"President Barack Obama announced steps on Friday to increase the use of solar panels, boost energy efficiency in federal buildings and train more people to work in the renewable energy field...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Apple Inc, Yahoo Inc, Google Inc and Ikea were among the companies that have made such commitments...

Obama said an additional $2 billion would be devoted to energy efficiency upgrades to federal government buildings over the next three years.

Several financial institutions, including Citigroup Inc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, were announcing new plans for "large scale investment and innovative programs" to develop solar and renewable energy installations...

Obama's executive actions would [also] support efforts at community colleges so that 50,000 workers would join the solar industry by 2020..."

"With Corporate Help, Obama Announces Actions on Renewable Energy," reuters.com, May 9, 2014

"FACT SHEET: President Obama Announces Commitments and Executive Actions to Advance Solar Deployment and Energy Efficiency," whitehouse.gov, May 9, 2014

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday [June 2] proposed a rule designed to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal plants by as much as 30 percent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels...

Existing power plants are the largest source of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for 38 percent. (The transportation sector comes in second, at 32 percent.) Much of this pollution stems from aging, coal-fired power plants...

Renewable-energy producers from the solar and wind sector stand to benefit from the regulation because it would provide utilities with a greater incentive to invest in carbon-free electricity sources.

By contrast, the coal industry and its allies - including lawmakers from West Virginia, North Dakota and other states - oppose the proposal. So do many business groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, which have argued that the rule would boost electricity prices and raise the cost of doing business."

According to the EPA, by 2030 the rules will:

"Cut carbon emission from the power sector by 30 percent nationwide below 2005 levels, which is equal to the emissions from powering more than half the homes in the United States for one year;

Cut particle pollution, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide by more than 25 percent as a co-benefit;

Avoid up to 6,600 premature deaths, up to 150,000 asthma attacks in children, and up to 490,000 missed work or school days-providing up to $93 billion in climate and public health benefits; and

Shrink electricity bills roughly 8 percent by increasing energy efficiency and reducing demand in the electricity system."

"EPA Proposes First Guidelines to Cut Carbon Pollution from Existing Power Plants," epa.gov, June 2, 2014

Washington Post, "Everything You Need to Know about the EPA's Proposed Rule on Coal Plants," washingtonpost.com, June 1, 2014

[ Editor's Note : On Sep. 20, 2013, the EPA proposed separate carbon pollution standards for all future power plants.]

"President Barack Obama on Monday will mandate steep cuts to power-plant carbon emissions, as he unveils his administration's signature initiative to combat climate change and sets in motion sweeping changes to the country's electricity industry...

The administration's plan will force the utility industry to shift toward cleaner-burning energy sources for decades to come as the EPA sets the first-ever limits on greenhouse gases from power plants, requiring a 32% cut in emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels...

The final version of the climate policy gives states more time to comply with the regulations, but that has done little to assuage critics who assert that the emissions limits will cost jobs and not actually solve climate change...

The regulations also seek to prevent the electricity industry from becoming more dependent on natural gas. Coal, which accounts for just under 40% of total U.S. electricity, emits the most carbon dioxide compared with other fuels...

[T]he final regulation plan will help encourage nuclear power generation, which doesn't emit any carbon and accounts for about 20% of the U.S.'s electricity."

Colleen McCain Nelson and Amy Harder, "EPA Emissions Rule to Mandate Limits Beyond Proposed Targets," wsj.com, Aug. 2, 2015

"[Donald Trump] signed an executive order that starts unraveling a raft of rules and directives to combat climate change. That was followed Wednesday by a bid to place on hold a 26-state suit challenging the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's environmental agenda -- the Clean Power Plan -- so the new administration can dismantle it ahead of a ruling on its legality... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will need at least a year to remove the Clean Power Plan from the federal regulatory landscape, while justifying the reversal, allowing for public comment and still meeting its Clean Air Act obligations."

Andrew M. Harris and Jennifer A Dlouhy, "Trump Administration Seeks Halt to Clean Power Plan Review," bloomberg.com, Mar. 28, 20

[ Editor's note : On Oct. 10, 2017, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to begin the process of formally repealing the Clean Power Plan.]

"Congress' passage of the Republican tax bill will be a chapter in Alaska's history books. The law opens a part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development, ending an epic, nearly four-decade battle. For years, environmental groups, the oil industry, Alaska Native communities and the state's political leaders have debated the potential consequences of oil development in ANWR... USGS [United States Geological Service] estimates there's potentially somewhere between 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels of oil in the Arctic Refuge's 1002 area... For comparison, Alaska's second biggest oil field, Kuparuk, has produced about 2.5 billion barrels of oil."

"Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Battle Ends, But Drilling Not a Given," npr.org, Dec. 21, 2017

[ Editor's Note : President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law on Dec. 22, 2017.]

- Three Mile Island to Close, Site of Worst Commercial Nuclear Accident in US

"Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania stopped producing electricity at noon on Friday [Sep. 20, 2019], part of Exelon Corp.'s plan to close and decommission the plant over the next 60 years. The closure comes 40 years after the partial meltdown of the plant's reactor No. 2 - the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident - left the plant with only one working reactor. Tens of thousands evacuated amid uncertainty about the accident. Some radiation was released, but officials said it was within acceptable levels. Yet many who live in the area are convinced that their health problems in later years were related to the accident."

Brett Sholtis, "Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Shuts Down," npr.org, Sep. 20, 2019

- EPA Lowers Fuel Economy Standards

"The Trump administration on Tuesday [Mar. 31, 2020] weakened one of the nation's most aggressive efforts to combat climate change, releasing new fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks... [The new standards] would require automakers to increase fuel economy across their fleets by 1.5% a year, with a goal of achieving an average of 40 miles per gallon by 2026. That's still a major departure from current rules, which mandate annual increases of 5%, reaching an average of 54 mpg by 2025."

Anna M. Phillips, "Trump Weakens Fuel Economy Standards, Rolling back Key U.S. Effort against Climate Change," latimes.com, Mar. 31, 2020

- Oil and Electricity Demands Drop during COVID-19 Pandemic

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), "Global oil and gas markets are facing an unprecedented situation: demand is collapsing because of the impact of the coronavirus while supply, already overabundant, is significantly increasing." The IEA expects Apr. 2020 oil demand to be at lows not seen since 1995.

Meanwhile, even though reliable electricity has become all the more important as people are confined at home, whether working, online shopping, or bingeing TV shows, overall electricity use has dropped around 15% as factories and other businesses close for stay-at-home orders.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, stated, "Governments can use the current situation to step up their climate ambitions and launch sustainable stimulus packages focused on clean energy technologies. The coronavirus crisis is already doing significant damage around the world. Rather than compounding the tragedy by allowing it to hinder clean energy transitions, we need to seize the opportunity to help accelerate them."

Fatih Birol, "The Coronavirus Crisis Reminds Us That Electricity Is More Indispensable Than Ever," iea.org, Mar. 22, 2020

International Energy Agency, "COVID-19," iea.org (accessed Apr. 15, 2020)

International Energy Agency, "Oil Market Report - April 2020," iea.org, Apr. 2020

Citi announced a new policy in which the bank will not fund new or expanded thermal coal mines, new or expanded coal-fired plants, "oil and gas exploration, development, and production in the Arctic Circle," or projects that will have a negative impact on UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Morgan Stanley announced a similar new policy, while Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo already had similar policies in place.

In a letter to banks in Feb. 2020, Democratic senators wrote, "The scale of your banks' assets individually, let alone together, give you the ability to drive change in protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in shifting towards a U.S. financial sector that effectively analyzes and plans for climate risks."

President Trump stated, "I don't like that. I like the idea of looking into that... They're [the banks] are afraid of the radical left. You shouldn't be afraid of the radical left. You cannot be discriminating against these great energy companies."

Citi, "Environmental and Social Policy Framework," citigroup.com, Apr. 2020

Rachel Frazin, "Democratic Senators Ask Banks to Prohibit Funding Arctic Drilling," thehill.com, Feb. 3, 2020

Rachel Frazin, "Trump Criticizes Banks Withholding Funds from Certain Fossil Fuel Projects," thehill.com, Apr. 24, 2020

Morgan Stanley, "Environmental and Social Policy Statement," morganstanley.com, Apr. 2020

In Nov. 2021, the Biden administration held the largest oil and gas lease sale in United States history. A federal judge invalidated the sale for leases in the Gulf of Mexico on Jan. 27, 2022.

The judge stated the Biden administration had not fully taken into account climate change when selling the leases. The Interior Department will now have to complete environmental reviews to determine the levels of greenhouse gases that would occur from the development and production of the leases, and then the Biden (or a future) administration will have to decide whether to sell the leases again.

The Biden administration placed a moratorium on all new leases shortly after the president took office in 2021. However, the moratorium was struck down when challenged by 13 Republican governors. The federal judge in that case ruled that the sales already scheduled for Gulf of Mexico leases must go forward (which are the leases now invalidated).

Lisa Friedman, "Court Revokes Oil and Gas Leases, Citing Climate Change," nytimes.com, Jan. 27, 2022

Nathan Rott, "A Federal Judge Canceled Major Oil and Gas Leases over Climate Change," npr.org, Jan. 28, 2022

Stanford University engineers have developed a solar panel with a thermoelectric generator that pulls electricity from the temperature difference between the solar cell and the air, allowing the panel to generate electricity at night.

Published in Applied Physics Letters, the study stated, "Our approach can provide nighttime standby lighting and power in off-grid and mini-grid applications, where [solar] cell installations are gaining popularity."

Rina Torchinsky, "Solar Panels That Can Generate Electricity at Night Have Been Developed at Stanford," npr.org, Apr. 7, 2022

- California Bans Sale of New Gas-Powered Cars by 2035

Following Governor Gavin Newsom's Sep. 23, 2020 executive order to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars, California air regulators voted on Aug. 25, 2022 to do the same. The new regulation, approved by California Air Resources Board (CARB), is expected to have a nationwide impact on state regulations and the car industry as a whole. According to NPR journalist Nathan Rott, 13 states generally follow California's lead in emissions regulations, including Washington state, whose governor, Jay Inslee announced a similar goal on Aug. 24, 2022.

The American state's ban comes amid news that the island of Hainan in southern China has also initiated a ban of gas-powered cars with a goal of no new sales by 2030.

Nathan Rott, "California Will Ban Sales of New Gasoline-Powered Cars by 2035," npr.org, Aug. 25, 2022

Jessie Yeung and Shawn Deng, "Chinese Island Plans to Ban Sales of Fossil Fuel-Powered Vehicles by 2030," cnn.com, Aug. 25, 2022

Other sites are welcome to link to this page, but not to reproduce or repurpose our copyrighted content. Please see our reprinting policy for details on how to request permission to reprint ProCon.org content.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Historical Timeline - Alternative Energy - ProCon.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Other sites are welcome to link to this page, but not to reproduce or repurpose our copyrighted content. Please see our reprinting policy for details on how to request permission to reprint ProCon.org content. - Windmills Built in Persia to Grind Grain and Pump Water "For the tenth century, we have material proof that windmills were turning in the blustery Seistan region of Persia.