Crude Oil and Natural Gas Are Key to Sustainable Energy Future

Abstract

Energy may be defined as the force exerted on any physical or chemical resource in order to perform work or cause a change. Energy can be primary or secondary. Primary energy is the energy domiciled in nature and requires physical exploitation to extract its content for use, e.g., crude oil, natural gas, coal, and renewables such as solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, biomass, and nuclear fission and fusion. Secondary energy is the transformed primary energy that has gone through advanced processing to become useful for human, e.g., electricity generated from coal or natural gas. Sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs," while sustainability is the ability for continuous existence.