In this article you will find out why we talk about fossil fuels or fossil energy. What makes heating with oil so questionable and why is it considered harmful to the environment? What sustainable heating alternatives are there? Let’s delve into the topic: Fossil fuels and the path from oil to oil heating.
What is meant by “fossil”?
Where does the term “fossil” fuel actually come from? The terminology fossil comes from Latin and means something like “dug up”. The term refers to a geological era that dates back several thousand years. One example of fossil fuels is oil. Oil is hidden under lakes and oceans, for example. It looks like dark mud and consists of dead microorganisms, i.e. animals and plants. The formation of crude oil takes between 10,000 and several million years. The formation process of crude oil therefore takes quite a long time, which we can hardly imagine. This is the connection between the term fossil and crude oil.
From the fossil raw material “crude oil” to a warm home
So petroleum is a kind of organic sludge consisting of dead microorganisms. How can you heat your home with it?
During the distillation process, the crude oil is split into its individual components. These components are known to us as liquefied petroleum gas, crude petrol, diesel and heating oil. As the name suggests, the latter is required as fuel for an oil heating system. The oil heating system produces its heat by burning heating oil.
Incidentally, we have just used the terms crude oil and crude oil as synonyms. In fact, we talk about crude oil as long as the oil is still in the sea and crude oil as soon as it is on the surface.
The combustion of heating oil andCO2 emissions
We are dependent on additional sources of heat, as humans do not have fur that protects us from the cold like many animals. The unpleasant side effect is that we not only heat our homes, but also our planet. Some heating methods cause higherCO2 emissions than others and therefore contribute more to global warming. How does fossil-fuel oil heating fare? If you want to keep a living space of 120 square meters warm with heating oil, you emit 4.7 tons ofCO2 per year (according to the Federal Environment Agency). And that’s quite a lot.
Why heating with fossil fuels is questionable
First of all, you could say that heating oil has its natural origins in nature. Isn’t that a good thing? You might think so. In fact, each and every one of us comes into contact with crude oil. Be it our own car, the bus ride, plastics, cosmetics or even oil heating. So crude oil is quite present in our everyday lives.
However, crude oil is a limited resource. And as we learned earlier, it takes quite a long time for microorganisms to transform into crude oil. As a reminder, the formation process can take up to several million years.
The extraction of crude oil is therefore taking place at a rapid pace in order to satisfy our everyday needs. The renewal of crude oil, on the other hand, takes a very long time. The demand for this raw material is increasing for reasons such as economic growth and the steadily growing world population. We can now calculate that one day nature will have no more oil for us. In addition to the shortage of raw materials, however, there are other concerns, as research is also tapping into untouched sources of oil. The Arctic, for example, is thought to contain a rich supply of oil. This is worrying from a climate and environmental protection perspective, as the Arctic is one of the last untouched natural areas in the world.
Fossil fuels: What alternatives are there?
Keeping your home warm with the help of fossil fuels is questionable from an environmental point of view. However, there is also good news, as there are environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuels. One alternative is renewable energies. These include wind and solar energy. Renewable energies are sustainable and there is no shortage as there is with oil.
The Federal Environment Agency advises completely abandoning fuel heating for renovation and new build projects. A phase-out plan is also recommended for partially renovated houses, as oil heating systems generally cause even more greenhouse emissions and pollutants than gas heating systems.
The oil heating that was still popular at the time can therefore be replaced by a sustainable heating method. One example of sustainable heating systems are Könighaus infrared heaters. You can operate these with energy you generate yourself, for example with your own photovoltaic system on the roof, or you can of course also purchase green electricity from your trusted supplier.
Conclusion
The term fossil refers to something that is very old and is dug up, such as crude oil. Since heating oil is obtained from crude oil, the use of oil heating is often referred to as heating with fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are questionable due to the long reproduction time of the raw material and the highCO2 emissions. Alternatives such as infrared heating are available for sustainable heating.
Want to know more about sustainable heating? Then simply contact our customer service team, who will be happy to answer any questions you may have about infrared and the advantages it offers over heating with fossil fuels and can certainly give you a few surprising facts along the way. In the meantime, take a look at our blog and find out about other interesting topics.
