How does the U.S. use fossil fuels more effeciently?
Here are some examples: 1) Methane recapture from organic decay in landfills. Granted, this is not exactly a fossil fuel in the strict sense, but it’s along the same lines. 2) Currently when developing an offshore oilfield, the oil is captured but much of the cooccurring methane is “flared” — burned off in order to release pressure! This practice could be changed to improve efficiency. 3) Fossil fuels are burned mostly to generate mechanical energy that is then itself used to generate electrical energy, which is then used by consumers to generate mechanical energy, heat energy, potential energy, etc. Every time the energy type is converted, some energy is lost and escapes the system as heat. (Think about how hot your car engine gets!) So we could increase efficiency by simply shortening the chain of conversions. If you want to heat your home, go directly from fossil fuel to heat, instead of heating using electricity that has already been through several conversions. (Alternatively, we
