We believe we have entered a sustained period of elevated crude oil and natural gas prices which we believe is driven in part by increasing demand
for industrial fuels.
Burning biomass (such as plant and animal waste) will supply 60 %
of industrial fuels and heat, 13 % of building heat, and 13 % of electricity needs.
By 2005 (the most recent year for which statistics are available), the United States had slashed that figure to 188 million, thanks to both recycling and using tires
as industrial fuel.
In addition, the Federal Powerplant and
Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 discouraged the use of natural gas and petroleum for power generation.
In addition, surging global demand for
industrial fuels from rapidly developing nations, such as China and India, have further driven up energy prices.
This has direct negative effects within the US; including a rise in the price of electricity, a rise in the price of foods (natural gas is a feedstock for fertilizers), a rise in the price of goods (natural gas is a feedstock, and source
of industrial fuel), and a rise in the price of home heating fuel.»
Annual per capita consumption of both heating and
industrial fuels and transportation fuels is shown in GJ (gigajoules, where 1 GJ is about two - thirds the energy of a typical lightning bolt).
16 Ethanol was widely used as
an industrial fuel in America until a tax on alcoholic beverages, levied to help pay for the Civil War, prompted a switch to kerosene and methanol.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), tires deliver 25 percent more energy than coal, with an emission profile of greenhouse gases and other pollutants that is about the same, making them acceptable as
an industrial fuel.
Haiti is almost 99 % deforested, as they rely totally on wood for domestic and
industrial fuel.
The upward skew in carbon use over the income range comes about because higher - income households don't just drive more, they also fly more (burning jet fuel), they tend to own bigger (and sometimes multiple) houses to heat and cool, and they buy and use more products that require electricity or
industrial fuels to manufacture, deliver and use.