Oil 2

Petroleum, or crude oil, naturally occurring oily, bituminous liquid composed of various organic chemicals. It is found in large quantities below the surface of the earth and is used as a fuel and as a raw material in the chemical industry. Modern industrial societies use it primarily to achieve a degree of mobility—on land, at sea, and in the air—that was barely imaginable less than a hundred years ago. In addition, petroleum and …

…the huge energy needs of today’s world is coal, the availability of which in the U.S. and elsewhere throughout the world is well established. Associated with its projected increased utilization would be an increase in the use of coal-based electrical power to do more and more of the chores of industrialized nations. Adequate safeguards can perhaps be set on its use by modern engineering technology, with little increase in capital and operating costs.