North Carolina Energy Resources Essay

There are three energy sources the North Carolina that are used the most, they are natural gas, ethanol and coal. The price of natural gas is $3.41 per MMBtu (1 million British thermal units.) The price of ethanol is $3.55 per gallon and coal cost $35 per barrel. There is about 2,276 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the US. Since ethanol can be made of many different things and can be found in many different things it is nearly impossible to tell how much is available. There is an estimated 477.1 billion short tons of coal in the US in 2015. It is also important to know how the use of these resources effects the environment. When we drill for natural gas and extract it, it results in leakage of methane, which is 34 times stronger than

It can also affect wildlife and the land. When drilling for natural gas it alter land use and harm local ecosystems by causing erosion and disturbing wildlife habitats and migration patterns. However, some of the benefits of natural gas are, the global warming emissions from its combustion are much lower than from coal or oil. Natural gas gives off 50 to 60 percent less carbon dioxide when combusted in a new, efficient natural gas power plant contrasted with emissions from a typical new coal plant. Ethanol also has pros and cons when using it. Let’s start with the pros; ethanol is less harmful than unblended gasoline as carbon monoxide production from ethanol fuel is lower than that of gasoline engines. Since it can be made from processed corn it helps local farmers and manufacturing economies. In spite of pros there has to be cons. Some cons include, 2.4 to 2.8 gallons of ethanol can be produced per bushel of corn. As a result, there has been massive media coverage over the use of food as fuel. Ethanol soaks up water and is damaging, which make it difficult to ship through existing pipelines from the Midwest of the U.S., where most production