Abstract
Carbon is the basis of life on our planet: starting from the discovery of fire, our civilization vitally depends on carbon for its energy and livelihood; for this reason, it is often called “Carbon Civilization.” Our entire way of life is physically constructed around carbon fuels, and this “carbon entanglement” factor is the primary reason for the very slow and modest progress of carbon mitigation policies over the last couple of decades. There are clear indications, however, that the high-carbon economical model may face serious challenges; the continued heavy reliance on a narrow set of conventional fossil fuel-based technologies is a significant threat to energy security, stable economic growth, and the environment. A brief history of carbon fuels, their origin, diversity, abundance, and crucial role in supporting and sustaining humans’ well-being in the past, present, and future is discussed in this chapter. It examines the main grounds of our addiction to carbon fuels, controversies around “peak oil” concept, and new paradigms of dealing with the “tide” of carbon fuels and co** with their environmental impact.
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Notes
- 1.
In this book, fossil fuels are interchangeably called “carbon fuels” to emphasize the significance of carbon as a basic element of these fuels.
- 2.
The terms “carbon emissions” and ‘CO2 emissions” are interchangeably used in this book.
- 3.
In this book, kWh corresponds to electric kWh (or kWhel), unless otherwise indicated.
- 4.
According to British Petroleum (BP) definition, proved reserves of oil are generally those quantities that geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty can be recovered in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and geological conditions.
- 5.
The term “anthropogenic” refers to greenhouse gas emissions that are the direct result of human activities or are the result of natural processes that have been affected by human activities [70].
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Muradov, N. (2014). Introduction to Carbon Civilization. In: Liberating Energy from Carbon: Introduction to Decarbonization. Lecture Notes in Energy, vol 22. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0545-4_1
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