The twentieth century has been the age of petroleum. Oil in its various refined derivative forms, such as gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuel, has a unique combination of many desirable and useful characteristics. These include a current availability in abundance, a currently high net energy recovery, a high energy density, ease of transportation and storage, relative safety, and great versatility in end use. Oil is also useful as more than an energy source. It is the basis for the manufacture of petrochemical products including plastics, medicines, paints, and myriad other useful materials. Finally, the asphalt "bottoms" from refineries have converted millions of miles of muddy trails around the world into paved highways on which transport vehicles fueled by oil run.

In the past hundred years the Western world has become just about fully dependent on petroleum. With over a hundred and thirty million cars driving on the roads in the last ten years, the question of how much longer is the nonrenewable resource, petroleum going to last.

"Technology advances and the maturity of existing oil fields have spurred oil companies to explore for oil and

Nuclear energy is energy released by the processes that effect atomic nuclei. There are two methods of releasing this energy: nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. Nuclear fission is the process of dividing a heavy atomic nucleus usually uranium or plutonium, when the nucleus is divide it releases energy. Nuclear fusion is the process of combining light elements to heavier ones and energy is gained from the reaction. Though nuclear reaction is a good alternative to oil power, it doesn't not have the vast amount of uses that petroleum has, such as plastic, asphalt etc.

Kerosene is also known as fuel oil because it is used to generate heat or power. Fuel oils are produced by different petroleum refining processes, depending on their intended uses. Fuel oils may be used as fuel for engines, lamps, heaters, furnaces, and stoves, or as solvents. Some commonly found fuel oils include; diesel fuel, jet fuel, range oil, and home heating oil. These fuel oils differ from one another by their hydrocarbon compositions, boiling point ranges, chemical additives, and uses. Diesel fuel is used in diesel engines. In diesel engine, combustion is induced by the heat of compression of the air in the cylinder under compression.

Though petroleum refineries were well established because the demand of petroleum has reached 2.3 billion tons a year it is under fire. As the world became aware of the impact of industrial pollution on the environment, the petroleum-refining industry became their primary focus. Refiners add hydrotreating units to extract sulfur compounds from their products and began to generate large quantities of the element sulfur. Also hydrocarbons are being emitted into the water and atmosphere from refineries. Cars releasing carbon dioxide also

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Approximate Word count = 1187
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)