Advantages And Disadvantages Of Petroleum
Petroleum has been used as a fuel source for many years and has developed into an industry that supports our economy. There are many controversies surrounding the use and practice of extracting petroleum.
The Top 5 Advantages of Petroleum
Petroleum is a fossil fuel that accumulates in porous rocks. The biogenic theory of petroleum is that it accumulates from fossils of plants, animals, and other organisms that lived millions of years ago. Some of the advantages of petroleum are as follows.
1. Petroleum Or Oil Has High Density
The average 1kg of burnt oil can generate 10,000 kcal.
2. Extracting Oil Is Easy
Technologies used for extracting oil beneath the earth’s surface are well developed. Nowadays, it is extremely easy to exploit oil deposits if different geological conditions. It doesn’t matter is the oil deposits to be extracted are beneath the ocean’s surface or in places with special climate conditions.
3. Extracting Oil Is Low Cost
The reduced technical and physical effort made oil cheap.
4. Liquid From For Easy Transportation
Petroleum is in liquid form, so it’s pretty easy to transport. It can be brought from the site to the power plant through pipes, or vehicles and can be stored easily.
5. Petroleum Has Broad Areas For Applications
It has been the primary energy resource of power plants to supply the high demands for energy of the modern world of today. It is used to power motors of all kinds including vehicles, power generators, and heavy equipment.
The Top 3 Disadvantages of Petroleum
Crude oil is a fossil fuel that consists of over 17,000 complex organics substances. This unique characteristic of crude oil makes it the most important raw material in the chemical industry. It is used for creating paints, medicines, foods, plastic, fertilizers, fuel production, and more. All modern industries rely on petroleum and the products derived from it. However, despite the advantages of petroleum, it still has disadvantages that are alarming. Some of the most significant disadvantages of petroleum are the following:
1. Resources Are Limited
Although oil is a natural fossil fuel, its resource is now limited. The high demands of the modern world for energy have stressed the conventional sources of oil reserves. The ever increasing cost of petroleum in the market is a clear indication that oil resources are decreasing. Power plants are getting hard time extracting oil beneath the earth’s surface as reserves are nearly drought.
2. Environmental Pollution
Extracting and burning oil generates greenhouse gasses that contribute to environmental pollution and global warming.
3. Non Renewable Form Of Energy
Petroleum is a non renewable form of energy resource. Once burned to generate electricity, it can be replaced. Depletion of fuels can occur overtime.
The depletion of fossil fuels can lead to limited supply of petroleum. When the supply is limited and the demands are high, the cost of petroleum will significantly increase and this can lead economical conflicts between nations. War can even arise between nations with wide areas of fuel reserves like the United States, Russia, and the Middle East. Therefore, mankind should find alternative energy resources, so the petroleum reserves can still continue to supply energy to the modern world for the next 100 years.