Resources - Environmental Transformations - page 22

two important things. First, that the affluent
nations of the OECD (Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development), such as the
UK, USA and Germany, have been the dominant
consumes of global energy. Second, it illustrates
that the OECD share of global energy use is start-
ing to be reviled by rapidly expanding economies
such as China and India (India is covered in
Figure 2.4 under the category of Asia). This means
that the world is currently in a situation that is
characterized by dwindling non-renewable energy
supplies and an increasing demand for such energy
supplies from rapidly expanding economies.
The geography of contemporary mineral
energy extraction and use is further complicated
by the location of current oil reserves. While the
assessment and predication of known oil reserves
is a complex and often controversial exercise, we
do have a clear sense of where the major reserves
of oil are to be found. The largest known oil
reserves are concentrated in the Middle East, in
countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran
and the United Arab Emirates. In fact, current
estimates suggest that there are approximately
3.5 times more reserves of oil in the Middle East
then there are in North America (the largest
regional consumer of oil). Given the geographical
concentration of oil reserves in the Middle East,
it is unsurprising that the region has become so
geopolitically significant in recent decades
(Harvey, 2003).
While a more detailed discussion of the
environmental problems that are associated with
the use of mineral resources is provided later in this
volume (see Chapter 3), it is important to briefly
note some of these issues at this stage. The burning
of mineral resources such as oil, gas and coal is the
main human source of greenhouse gases at a global
level. In addition to climate change, however, the
burning of fossil fuels is also associated with a range
of more localized air pollution issues. When fossil
fuels are burned they not only release carbon
dioxide but other pollutants such as ozone, nitrous

and sulphur oxides, and particulate matter. This
cocktail of pollution is associated with the
production of photochemical smogs and acid rain,
which together contribute significant forms of
ecological damage as well as having adverse affects
on human health.
More recently, however, the extraction of so-
called unconventional mineral energy resources
has generated a series of new environmental
problems. Unconventional mineral energy is a
name that is given to a series of energy sources that
are extracted using methods other than standard
oil and gas well and rig technologies. Conventional
methods of oil and gas extraction use wells and rigs
to control the release of these resources at high
pressures. These methods provide a relatively
efficient and low-cost system of extraction.
Unconventional energy sources include oil sands
(which are a mixture of sand, clay water and
petroleum), and shale oil and gas (in which oil and
gas is distributed within the cracks and crevasses
of sedimentary rocks). What unites these different
unconventional energy sources is that the host
materials that the oil and gas are found in (sand,
clay and shale rock in these instances) prevent the
fuels from flowing freely and thus being easily
extracted. The removal of mineral energy from
unconventional sources thus involves a series of
processes that are both expensive to implement
and often have harmful affects on the surrounding
environment (Box 2.1) . As the average price of
mineral energy has increased over the last decade
it has, however, become economically viable to
extract unconventional sources of oil and gas. It is
also important to note that as more and more
unconventional mineral energy sources are being
exploited (particularly in North America), the
price of greenhouse gas-producing minerals such
as coal is coming down! It appears likely that the
exploitation of unconventional mineral resources
is likely to contribute to the increased release of
greenhouse gases from both unconventional and
conventional sources.