Oil
The environmental impact of energy . A few examples

Oil is a very convenient source of energy because it is concentrated (9 to 13 kWh/kg, compared with 5 to 9 kWh/kg for coal). It's a liquid that's easy to transport and use. Burning oil generates less CO₂ than coal (figure 8). It also emits fewer pollutants than the latter. For example, an old power plant burning heavy fuel oil discharges an average of 4.7 Mt of CO₂, 90,000 t of SO₂ if the fuel oil is not desulfurized, 6,000 t of NO₂ and 1,500 t of dust every year. It produces just under 8 m³ of solid waste.

Half of...