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Wiess Facts
The Wiess Energy Hall originated in the 1960s, when the gift of Harry C. Wiess, co-founder and president of Humble Oil, established the Harry C. Wiess Hall of Petroleum Science and Technology.
The exhibit was renovated in 1994 and again in 2005 to be a forward-looking showcase for the cutting-edge technology of the energy industry and set the world standard for energy exhibits.
Designers and exhibit developers from South Korea, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Argentina and Australia, have visited the exhibit, seeking to emulate various aspects for similar projects in those countries.
Energy Facts
Fossil fuels have only been in use for about 200 years. Many energy sources that are considered alternative today – such as wind and water power – were the primary source of energy for millennia of human history.
Oil is not found in underground pools, but rather in the tiny spaces of porous and permeable rock layers—much like water trapped by a sponge.
Texas is rapidly becoming the wind energy leader of the United States, with over 135,000 megawatts of potential wind energy, and projects generating over 1,200 megawatts already installed. A 278-megawatt facility at the King Mountain Ranch near McCamey is the largest in the state.
The human body generates energy by consuming food, or material from plants and animals that can also be referred to as biomass. Ethanol, a much cleaner-burning fuel than gasoline, can also be produced from biomass energy in corn.
Oil was formed from the remains of animals and plants that lived in a marine environment millions of years ago. Over time, their remains were covered by layers of mud, which created heat and pressure, and turned them into crude oil.
The word petroleum means rock oil or oil from the earth.
New technologies have greatly reduced the quantity and size of areas affected by drilling.
o Satellites, global positioning systems, remote sensing devices, and 3-D and 4-D
seismic technologies make it possible to discover oil reserves while drilling
fewer wells.
o The use of horizontal and directional drilling makes it possible for a single well to
produce oil from much bigger areas.
o Extended-reach wells today travel more than six miles horizontally from the
drill site.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology allows recovery of “stranded gas” located in isolated regions that are not served by pipeline systems. Cooled to minus 256 degrees Fahrenheit, LNG occupies 1/600th of the volume of its gaseous state and can be transported easily by specially designed ships.
Over one-fourth of the crude oil produced in the United States is produced offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas, Louisiana, Alaska and California are the top producers of crude oil in the United States.
One barrel of crude oil produces 19.9 gallons of finished motor gasoline.
Nuclear power accounts for about 20 percent of the total electricity generated in the United States, an amount comparable to all the electricity used in Texas, California and New York.
The only difference in the operation of nuclear power and fossil fuels is the source of heat. Fossil fuels produce heat from the combustion of hydrocarbons, while nuclear power produces heat by splitting—or fissioning—atoms. In both cases, the heat energy is converted into mechanical energy, which can then move machinery or generate electricity.
The Earth receives radiant energy from the sun in the form of electromagnetic waves. This energy can be tapped directly through solar thermal and solar photovoltaic power, and indirectly through wind, biomass, hydroelectric power and ocean thermal energy.
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