A recent fire at a petrol storage facility in Hazira, Gujarat underscores the risks we accept by using natural stores of high-density energy. The fire fortunately only destroyed one of nine storage tanks but it did send the oxidation by-products of burning 5million litres of petrol straight into the air. While harmful, we deem such chronic energy losses as these fires to be a reasonable cost for accessing the energy stores.

Assuming an energy content of 34.8MJ per litre then the fire released about 1.74e14 Joules. This amount is comparable to the energy released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb but less than a typical thunderstorm. Also, it is well below India’s annual petroleum consumption of 7.1e18 Joules.

From another perspective, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited, about 6.4 billion litres of crude were lost between 1970 and 2009. With crude at 38.5 MJ/litre, this amounts to 2.46e17Joules. This is comparable to the fission of one ton of uranium. While significant, it pales in comparison to the world’s annual petroleum consumption of 1.9e20Joules.

Both the loss amounts calculated above are diminutive compared to humanities consumption. That is, we can easily compensate for this chronic accidental loss of stored high-density energy. The question remains, how do we compensate when we consume all the readily available sources of this form of energy?

Photo-Hindu Times