The Need for Conservation - Natural Gas, Oil, Hydroelectric

Natural Gas

• In 2006, natural gas provided 20.1% of the energy used in the United States.
• Though it is often described as the cleanest fossil fuel, in 2004 natural gas produced about 5,300 metric tons of CO2 emissions.
• By 2030, according to an updated version of the SRES B2 emissions scenario, natural gas will be the source of 11,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

Petroleum (Oil) Electricity Generation

• In 2006, 1.6% of the energy used in the United States was provided by petroleum
• Electricity generation consumes 500,000 barrels of oil per day and then consumes 182,5000,000 barrels per year
• Some sinkholes are caused from too much oil and natural resources being extracted from the ground
• We remove approximately 273 million gallons from the United States every day

Hydroelectric

The initial cost of the construction of the hydroelectric power plants is very high. It also takes a long time to construct the plant. Lots of designing, planning and testing goes into the construction of the dams. The hydroelectric power plants cannot be constructed at many locations. They can be constructed only in places where abundant quantities of water is available at sufficient height and throughout the year. Hydroelectric energy provided 7.2% of the energy consumed by the U.S. in 2006.