"Oil to Water"

Humanity relies on oil as a primary source of energy.  Gasoline, Diesel fuels, Jet Fuels, and Fuel Oil are all derived from oil.  A typical breakdown of how a barrel of oil is used is shown below.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/images/barrel.gif

As you can see, approximately 90% of the oil pumped out of the ground is combusted as energy.   The chemical conversion for gasoline,  the most common use for oil, is shown below. 

So, for every ONE molecule of isooctane (the primary component of gasoline), NINE molecules of water are created.   This comes out to 4 kg of water from each gallon of gasoline.  Let's illustrate the magnitude of this:

• Humanity consumes 80 million barrels of oil EACH DAY.
• One barrel of oil weighs 106 kg and holds 42 gallons.
• Combustion of a typical barrel of oil will produce roughly 100 kg of water.
• This comes out to 8 billion kg of water produced each day!  
• This is equivalent to running a typical  showerhead for almost 1000 years - from just  one day's worth of combusting oil!!  

What happens to all this water?  It inherently will increase humidity.  Depending how much it affects humidity, it might increase temperatures, decrease evaporation of existing water from the ground, increase cloud formation, or increase precipitation patterns.  Regardless, it will enter rivers, lakes  and eventually the oceans where it will impact sea levels.  On the global scale, it may contribute to climate change.   Feel free to explore this webpage to find out more about each possibility!
 

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