Energy Sources Essay

The Alternative energy industry in the United States has been at a steady rate of growth for the past decade, however there is still controversy over the use of renewable energies, their impact on the economy, and their impact on the environment. As controversial as the topic is, the argument boils down to a moral need to support environmental regulations, and an economical need to sustain domestic growth in the Energy industry of the United States. Mainly, the question is can alternative energy effective replace fossil fuels? There are of course arguments for both sides of this question.

Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

Fossil fuels—coal, petroleum (oil), and natural gas — are concentrated organic compounds found in the Earth’s crust. They are created from the remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago in the form of concentrated biomass. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), fossil fuels meet 81 percent of U.S. energy demand.

Most people have a theory that the fossil fuels we have today are from the remains of dead dinosaurs. Which is in fact not true, but what is true is that these fossil fuels were at one time alive. They formed when prehistoric animals and plants died and were covered by rock and other plant growth (energy.gov 2014). Organic matter, along with varying temperatures and pressure worked together to produce the fossil fuels. Different types of fossil fuels were developed depending on how much pressure and what the temperature was involved at the time of the forming of these fossil fuels. (energy.gov 2014). These fossil fuels, what are today known mainly as coal, oil, and natural gas, were the different types of fossil fuels that were developed and which are the ones that are still being used today. According to the U.S. department of energy, oil and natural gas were formed from living things in the ocean, which were then buried under the ocean sediments. Later, the seas and oceans evaporated and they began to compress with heat and pressure under the silt, which is how oil was formed. With that, some of the oil continued to sink underground and kept compressing and causing pressure, which in turn produced natural gas. Coal formed from the dead remains of trees, ferns and other plants that lived 300 to 400 million years ago. In some areas, such as portions of what-is-now the eastern United States, coal was formed from swamps covered by sea water.

When the new Southeast Polk High School opened they added many new energy saving products. This included installing geothermal heating under the high school cutting back on the cost of heating such a large building. Many new windows help save on energy used to light the building along with automatic lights that turn off after several minutes without movement. The new high school shows how easy it is to save money and help the environment. Renewable energy is good for all aspects of the U.S, providing jobs, economical growth, environmental cleanliness, and new research for improving energy efficiency. Therefore the United States should use renewable energy to benefit the economy and environment.

The fossil fuel coal is a burnable bituminous black rock that is consisting mainly of carbonized plant matter which is mainly found underground in seams and is also used as a fuel. In time, material that had been plants became coal. The main use for coal today is for generating electricity from one stop to another, cement manufacturing, steel products and as well as a liquid fuel. Coal is formed by plant decay which then turns into peat, the peat will than change to lignite which is a soft brown coal then after that a bituminous coal is formed which is black and brittle but also very polluting, after which an anthracite coal is formed, the anthracite coal contains the highest amount of carbon making it the cleanest and safest to burn. There are two ways coal can be

Fossil fuels are not only non-renewable, but they’re destructive. The by-products of fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil include methane and carbon, greenhouse gasses that help trap heat in our atmosphere. Solar PV

Fossil energy sources- such as oil, coal, and natural gases are become the major source for the energy which are formed from died prehistoric plants and animals buried in the layers of land over a million of years. But there are lot of impacts on the environment by the use of fossil fuels through combustion resulting in the emission of greenhouse gases. Over the past 20 years three-fourths of human-caused emissions came from the burning of fossil fuels.

The sun, the wind, and running water are all examples of renewable sources, but fossil fuels come from plants and animals that were alive hundreds of millions of years ago, so they are non-renewable(Source 1).Since fossil fuels are non-renewable they will eventually disappear and will not be an available source of energy. With the need for reliable sources of energy growing, many people are ignoring that fossil fuels will disappear, unlike alternative sources. People are ignoring the consequences that fossil fuels have and the availability of renewable sources of energy, such as alternative

With millions of years passing by, the decomposed material formed fossil fuels. The fossil fuels formed different types depending on the amount of animal and plant debris available, the length of time the material was buried, and the temperature and pressure when it was decomposing. The fossil fuels formed mainly are composed of hydrocarbons. In the case of natural gas, it is mainly comprised of methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H6), and butane (C4H10). For coal, it is composed of 90% carbon with the remaining elements hydrogen (H2), nitrogen (N2), sulfur (S), and oxygen (O2) with an example being C10H12. Oil is composed of major classes of hydrocarbons such as paraffins (CnH2n+2), aromatics (C6H5-Y)*, and cycloalkanes (CnH2n). These different chemical compositions result in the fossil fuels to have varied physical properties. With 85% of current US fuel use coming from fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas, people argue for a different source of energy. The use of harmful fossil fuels should be reduced because their harmful effects, for instance greenhouse gas emissions, severely outweighs their benefits such as ease of use and

The formation of the other two fossil fuels (crude oil and natural gas) took millions of years just like coal. Oil and gas come from the remains of small animals and plants. Long ago, when the animals and plants died, they sank to the bottom of the sea. The dead matter formed a large mass, which over time was covered by layers of sand, silt, and mud. As the weight of the sediment increased, the mass became more and more compressed. Then, the heat and pressure of the Earth eventually turned the mass into oil and gas. If the heat applied during the formation was low, then more oil was produced than gas. If the temperature was

Renewable resources are also known as alternative energy sources. Alternative Energy is any source of energy that can be renewed (Issit). Renewable Energies include hydrogen fuel, biomass fuel, hydropower, solar power, geothermic energy, and nuclear power. Hydrogen fuel is an amalgamation of hydrogen and oxygen which is used to produce electricity (Issit). Biomass fuel is made from materials which have already been used, such as compost, and can be used to generate electricity (Issit). Hydropower can be created through moving water or wind to generate electricity (Issit). Using sunlight to produce electricity is called solar power (Issit). Geothermic energy is energy made by the heat under the earth’s mantle (Issit). Nuclear power is

Fossil fuels are sources of energy that come from the fossilized remains plants and microorganisms. This type of fuel takes millions of years to produce naturally and thus, are non-renewable, and on a limited supply. The most common forms of these types of fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. All of these forms of fuel are highly energy efficient, and so they have become the main sources of energy throughout the world. The overuse of these resources, however, has triggered a chain of events that will cause irreversible damages to the environment and climate. Upon their consumption, they release various gaseous pollutants into the atmosphere mostly in the form of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides that disturb the equilibrium of the atmosphere. These gasses become trapped in our atmosphere and cause temperatures to rise globally, which can

The most of global energy production produces from fossil fuel such as coal, oil and natural gas. The vast fossil fuels generate energy which use for many purposes for instant residential, transportation and industrial sectors. While the rate consumption of fossil fuel higher than their formation leads to oil price crisis. Another concern of fossil fuel combustion is the impact on the environment. Global warming is a significant problem which results in increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. These problems drive researchers and societies to search alternative energy such as switching to renewable energy or carbon-free energy to replace fossil fuels. For example Nakata et al., (2011:465) show ‘low-carbon society’

Energy is a crucial necessity and with the ever increasing need for it and the high and fluctuating prices of oil, researchers are constantly coming up with newer and more sophisticated alternative sources of energy. However, energy comes at a cost, as it is either expensive or it possesses high health risks. This essay presents the concept of energy by discussing the two major types of energy, the various forms it could take, including renewable sources of energy, energy conservation and above all it talks about the safest and cleanest alternatives.