Arguments for and against oil fired electricity?

I can't find anything on arguments for and against oil fired electricity for homework. If you have an answer can you please bullet point them. Thank you if you have any reasons and could you give me an answer quick.Arguments for and against oil fired electricity?
Oil is used to create gasoline, natural gas, or oil.


It is a hydrocarbon and the most common fuel used to create power in our modern industrial world.





Oil was created long ago, millions of years, when dead plant matter decays in an environment without oxygen like at the bottom of a swamp or the ocean. Millions of years of pressure and high temperatures are required to convert dead plant matter into coal, oil or natural gas.





Arguments FOR the use of oil.


鈥?Burning oil or any of its forms is easy.


鈥?There is a huge infrastructure (gas stations and pipelines) in existence to support it.


鈥?It is easy to transport at normal temperatures.


鈥?It is an energy dense liquid (meaning you can get a lot of energy out of a little bit).


鈥?Gasoline and oil vapors are flammable, but if stored in a tank with no air space then you don't have as many problems; only if it is released into the environment.


鈥?There is a large amount of oil buried under Saudi Arabia, the ocean floor and in the oil sands of Canada.


鈥?It is fairly easy to pull oil out of the ground.


鈥?It is not difficult to refine it; separate it into various products that can be used for several things.


鈥?There are a lot of existing power plants, with many years left on them, which can be used to generate electrical power.


鈥?It is the primary power for all automobiles.


鈥?Most portable electrical generators burn gasoline.


鈥?Oil is more energy dense than coal and burning oil to create electricity creates less pollution than burning coal. Nuclear power creates radioactive waste that will remain for thousands of years; much more dangerous than the pollution created by burning oil.





Arguments AGAINST the use of oil.


鈥?Burning oil releases carbon and the free carbon combines with oxygen in the air producing carbon dioxide (CO2) a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases are thick enough to trap heat in the atmosphere, and the rise in greenhouse gases is responsible for global warming. Most people believe that mankind is largely responsible for this increase. Plants breathe in CO2 and use the carbon in their structures. When those plants decay and form oil and coal then burning them releases the carbon that was locked up long ago. So we are not only releasing carbon into the atmosphere, but carbon that has been trapped for millions of years. We have been burning wood and coal (and releasing this carbon) since before the dawn of history; however in the last 100 years with the use of oil we have released as much CO2 as all of humanity has in the time before that.


鈥?We cannot continue to use oil at our current rate, not only is its supply limited, but it pollutes the environment creating harmful pollution like smog. Even if we burn it as cleanly as possible we still create greenhouse gases which are bad for the our survival since they will raise the temperatures on earth. Even a small rise in temperature can melt the icecaps flooding most of our cities (since most of our cities are on rivers or the coast). A significant rise in global temperatures can create a run away greenhouse effect resulting in an atmosphere like that on Venus. Humanity and most plants and animals alive cannot survive on such a planet and since this is the only planet we know of that can sustain life we are putting our very home into great danger.


鈥?Oil is a limited natural resource and we are burning a whole lot of it every year. It is becoming more difficult, and more expensive, to refine oil, pull it out of the ground or even to find new sources of it. Since it is so limited it and since it takes millions of years to create we will run out of oil at some point.


鈥?We also use oil to create lubricants, valuable solvents and plastics. By burning that oil we are depriving future generations of those. Most of our modern society uses plastics and most of our plastics are made with oil so we are competing with the use of plastics.


鈥?Iran and many other countries in the Middle East are not friendly to the Western World. One huge reason for the spike in oil prices is the simple FEAR that Iran might tighten world supply and so cause a shortage. With the falling price of oil OPEC has started to slow down production and tighten the oil supply to artificially keep the price higher. This has a strong effect on our economy. In the US most of our goods are shipped by truck so a rise in the price of oil causes a rise in the price of getting all our goods to market. It also causes a rise in the price of making most goods, a rise in the price of electricity, plastic and so on. It is very dangerous politically to have other nations control such a huge factor in our economy.


鈥?Drilling for, the use of and transportation of oil causes pollution. The Exxon Valdes created a large oil spill in Alaska severely harming the fish in the area; thus threatening the food supply (not EXXON still hasn鈥檛 paid the fine it was ordered to pay back in 2000, and has made more profit than that fine in a single month). Offshore drilling and the transport of oil causes pollution. The Alaskan Arctic Refuge has oil deposits underneath it; it also has some endangered life forms living on it. Disturbing that habitat with oil prospecting and drilling can harm wildlife. That is why it has been so unpopular to drill for oil there.


鈥?Extracting oil is not a quite process, pumps can be noisy and many citizens in Fort Worth Texas are mad at the drilling companies because they are drilling near their homes creating a lot of noise pollution.





The key factor though is economics. It is nice to try and save wildlife but it is not profitable. Burning oil for electricity is profitable and we have a large part of our economy base on it. Until that changes we will continue to burn oil. OPEC created an artificial oil shortage in the 1970s that eventually caused gas rationing in the US. Exploration of alternate power sources started back then, but as soon as OPEC resumed normal production rates most of those programs were abandoned and more investment was made in using oil in some form. Now OPEC has a even stronger grip on our economy and the Recession and Spike in oil prices that we have seen this year shows the danger of having an oil based economy.Arguments for and against oil fired electricity?
Against:





It's expensive.


It's dirty.


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For:





It used to be cheap, that's why the plants were built.


You don't have to retrofit or build a new power plant, which is, in the short term, an expensive proposition (in the long term, it makes sense, but if you're watching your near term pennies....)
For,You can switch it off and on straight away.


Against,causes air pollution,Cost of oil.
Against. Nuclear is the way forward.
Drill, baby drill!