Economic, Social, Environmental, and Sustainability Aspects of Pipelines

Until the mid-nineteenth century animal fats (tallow), waxes of various types, and oils (whale, olive, and fish) mainly in the forms of candles and lantern fuel, provided light. Wood, straw, and cow dung provided heat. These “renewable” fuels had positive consequences – they provided light and heat – but they also had negative consequences – they released particulate matter and gases, including carbon dioxide. For the past two centuries or so, non-renewable carbon-based fuels provided cheap energy significantly improved our standard of living improving our health and lengthening our life spans. Carbon-based fuels exist in solid, liquid, and gaseous form. Solid fuels like coal were moved from the point of production to the point of consumption by traditional means but liquid and gaseous energy – crude oil, manufactured and natural gas, and the products derived from them – had to be moved in a new way creating the need for oil and gas pipelines. This chapter starts with a brief history of pipelines and then moves on to examining the social, economic, and environmental aspects of pipelines transporting liquid and gaseous energy and concludes with predicting their use will continue well into the future.