Teacher Handout #1
The Fossil Fuel Story – Crude Oil and Hydrocarbons

Fossil fuels such as oil and gasoline, as well as other materials such as plastics come from petroleum, also known as crude – unprocessed – oil. Crude oils vary in colour, from clear to tar-black, and in viscosity, from watery to almost solid.

Crude oil is called a fossil fuel because it comes from the remains of decayed plants and animals that lived in ancient seas millions of years ago. Anywhere where you find crude oil was once a seabed.

Fossil fuels and crude oils are considered non-renewable resources because the earth cannot replace them within our lifetimes. It has taken many millions of years to make the crude oil that is found deep within our earth, yet we use it and take it for granted every day.

Crude oil or petroleum is refined or processed to make a wide range of products including: gasoline, oil, diesel, crayons, textiles, kerosene, and – very importantly – plastics. Although it’s hard to believe, the stuff that comes out of oil wells as a black liquid - and that has been sitting deep in the earth for millions of years – is made into plastics. It might be used to make a plastic fork we use once and throw away, or it could be made into something we use for years like a computer.

Crude oils are a useful starting point for so many different substances because they contain hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are molecules that contain hydrogen and carbon and come in various lengths and structures. Chemists can combine them to form different shapes – from straight chains to branching chains to rings. Each different chemical shape or structure makes a substance with different properties.

Hydrocarbons can take on many different forms. The smallest hydrocarbon is methane (CH₄), which is a gas that is lighter than air. Longer chains with five or more carbons are liquids. Very long chains are solids like wax or tar. By chemically cross-linking hydrocarbon chains chemists can make everything from synthetic rubber to nylon to the plastic containers in which we buy our food. Plastics vary in hardness, temperature, tolerance, and resiliency. Hydrocarbon chains are very versatile.

Hydrocarbons also contain a lot of energy. Many of the things derived from crude oil like gasoline and diesel oil take advantage of this energy. We use it to heat our homes, run our factories, our cars and airplanes.
It is great to have all that energy, but when we burn these fossil fuels , we release the stored carbon dioxide. And it is the increased carbon dioxide in our atmosphere that is causing too many greenhouse gases and our climate change problems.

Teacher Handout #2
Following the Energy Trail

The following are some of the steps where energy and fossil fuel use is required in the manufacturing of an everyday plastic item – a computer:

Start the exercise by drawing a computer at the end of what will become a flow chart.

Then turn to the beginning of the flow chart.

What kinds of materials that are used to make the components of a computer?

• plastics – for cases, circuit boards, gears, fans bases, cd trays and so on
• metal – for fan motors, wiring
• glass or silicon – for memory and logic chips

Are any of these materials made of fossil fuels?

• Yes, plastics are made from oil or petroleum, which are fossil fuels.

Trace the energy trail of the plastic components of the computer. (You may also want to follow-up this exercise by tracing the energy trails for other materials used to make the computer.)

So if oil is required for plastic production for computer components, what energy using steps are taken to get oil?

The petroleum trail to plastic

• Crews drive and fly all over the country to prospect for oil
• Seismic crew use chain saws to cut lines to allow rigs to do seismic testing
• Oil rigs are transported to areas that have potential
• Crews are driven in to operate rigs
• Bunkhouses and kitchens are hauled in to house and feed crews
• Oil is burned to heat the bunkhouses and camp buildings
• Diesel powers the oil drills
• Service companies drive into sites to service and work on equipment
• Oil is trucked or piped (pipelines are built) to refineries
• Workers drive to work at the refineries
• Refineries use energy to heat the oil and break it down into different components
• Plastic esters are trucked from refineries to plastic manufacturers

The plastic manufacturing trail

• Manufacturers construct molds for forming plastic
• Workers drive to work at the factories
• Factories are heated and cooled
• Machines process plastic into finished components (machines are likely to be powered by electricity produced by coal generation plants (or by other sources such as hydro power – What are the greenhouse gas implications of these? – Hydro is a renewable resource that doesn’t produce emissions.)
• Components are packaged for shipping – With what? – Plastic, paper and cardboard are all used to wrap and box the components of the computer if it is to be assembled at another location (this is very true with cars as well – parts may come from warehouses all over the world to make one car or computer).
• Parts are trucked from factories to supplier warehouses
• Warehouses are heated, fork trucks move materials around within them
• Parts are trucked from supplier warehouses to computer producers
• Workers drive to work for suppliers and warehouses Assembly of the final item (note: other manufacturers, making other parts for the computer will be doing their own assembly – this may or not require energy.

The computer trail

• Different components of the computer might come to an assembly plant from many different manufacturers – each component has its own specific energy trail
• Workers drive to the computer assembly plant
• Assembly facility is heated and cooled
• Computers are assembled by a mix of machines and people
• Completed computers are packaged
• Computers may be distributed to wholesalers and their warehouses or directly to retailers
• Retailers heat and cool their stores
• Salespeople drive to stores
• Shoppers drive to stores
• Shoppers drive home
• Once home shoppers dispose of the packaging What options are there for dealing with the packaging? - Cardboard and paper can be re-cycled.
• Garbage trucks pick-up discarded packaging and take it to a landfill site
• Computer is plugged in and used