Essay on Fossil Fuels

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.

Currently fossil fuels are the world’s primary energy source. The fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gases. Fossil fuels are organic materials formed from decayed plants and animals that due to heat and pressure from hundreds of

The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago. When an area is to be mined, topsoil and subsoil are removed from the rock and so is another material, call overburden, to expose the bed of coal. All living plants give solar energy through photosynthesis. When plants die the energy gets out as the plants decay. The whole decaying process gets interrupted which prevents the release of the stored solar energy, then the energy stays locked in the coal. The plant material gets subjected to high temperatures and pressures which causes physical and chemical changes in the vegetation, transforming it into peat and then into coal. The formation of peat is the first step in the geological formation of fossil fuels such as coal. Peat plants is not only the first step for formation but they also capture CO2 itself. There are many effect to the environment when it comes to coal; an example is AMD which stands for Acid mine drainage; it includes the outflow of acidic water from coal mines or metal mines. Mines exposed rocks containing pyrite which reacts to water and air to form acid and dissolved iron and can easily wash into rivers and streams. Coal is a huge impact when it comes to hurting our

From the moment we wake up in the morning and turn our alarm clock off, to the moment we turn the lights off and fall asleep, we are using energy. Throughout the day an average person will use a cell phone, a computer, a television, an oven or microwave, and many will ride in a car or bus: all of this takes energy. Energy is even being used while we sleep to power the same alarm clock that wakes us up each morning. Individuals in first world countries are large consumers of energy, but where does it all come from? What powers most of our modern day conveniences? The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that as much as eighty-two percent of the United State’s energy demand is met by using fossil fuels (Fossil Fuels), and in 2012, fossil fuels made up eighty-seven percent of the energy consumed worldwide (Gonzalez & Lucky, 2013). What are fossil fuels then?

From the moment we wake up in the morning and turn our alarm clock off, to the moment we turn the lights off and fall asleep, we are using energy. Throughout the day an average person will use a cell phone, a computer, a television, an oven or microwave, and many will ride in a car or bus: all of this takes energy. Energy is even being used while we sleep to power the same alarm clock that wakes us up each morning. Individuals in first world countries are large consumers of energy, but where does it all come from? What powers most of our modern day conveniences? The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that as much as eighty-two percent of the United State’s energy demand is met by using fossil fuels (Fossil Fuels), and in 2012, fossil fuels made up eighty-seven percent of the energy consumed worldwide (Gonzalez & Lucky, 2013). What are fossil fuels then?

In order to comprehend why we need to shift to alternative energy sources, we must first review the history of fossil fuels and how it transitioned the world during an important era of history. Fossil fuels played an extremely significant role in the era of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution began in the eighteenth century. Fossil fuels were the ultimate ideal source of energy during the Industrial Revolution. Coal was especially used the most during the revolution. It burned “cleaner” and hotter than what wood did. The Industrial Revolution without a doubt expanded the use of coal. During the revolution, coal was used for steamships and with the escalating business of transporting goods across the country, it played a major

Lignite is the softest coal. Further compression and aging caused the lignite coal to change into bituminous coal. Bituminous is a soft, black, brittle material that is extremely flammable and produces a lot of ash and sulfur when burned. This is the type of coal that is mined in the Appalachian Mountains, Great Plains, and the Colorado Plateau. Heat and pressure then turn bituminous into anthracite. Anthracite is the final stage of coal, and is composed almost entirely of carbon. Lignite and bituminous coal are sedimentary, while anthracite is metamorphic. Anthracite is only found where pressure and heat were very great. It doesn’t produce as much heat as bituminous coal, but it burns longer without as much residue. There are anthracite fields in Pennsylvania and Great Britain (U.S Energy Information Administration).

In today’s society fossil fuels are the primary source of energy for most of the industrialized world. Utilizing fossil fuels has been very important to the industrialization development throughout the world. Industrialization in many parts of the world, energy has been needed at a much higher density then before and fossil fuels have fulfilled that need. Coal, gas, and oil are the three major sources of fossil fuels in the world. Despite other means of energy such as wind power, hydroelectric power etc., fossil fuels are still the main source of energy across the continent. Fossils fuels are critical to the function of society. “Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are the dominant source of energy today and will be for decades to come.” (Everett, B. October).

Fossil fuels are essential to life on earth as we know it today. Our world would certainly be much different if it weren’t for such seemingly simple things such as coal, oil, and natural gas. These basic elements of life on earth may not seem like a major concern to some people until we put into perspective how they have shaped our world today. Civilizations have been built, economies have risen and crumbled, and even wars have been fought over these precious fossil fuels. However, these fossil fuels serve us in ways we may never truly appreciate, as long as we use them as recklessly as we do now. The major entity about fossil fuels is concerning their longevity and permanence in our world, and we all know, they will be around forever.

They are formed from the remains of fossil plant and animal life. We use fossil fuels to power our cars and airplanes, medicine, makeup, and to run many different types of appliances. Many products that are used everyday wouldn’t be available without the oil and gas extracted and processed from fossil fuels. Some advantages are being able to generate great amounts of electricity in one location, cost efficient and reliable, coal is becoming more and more available as geologists are finding coal mines, easily stored and transported from one place to another and new technology had been made to safely extract fossil fuels. Some disadvantages are it gives off carbon dioxide causing the greenhouse effect, which contributes to the global warming, mining of coal results in the destruction of wide areas, extracting coal puts workers in danger of health problems, moving fossil fuels from one location to another can involve leaks in oil tankers or ships that include toxic substances that puts marine life in hazards and lastly, burning coal releases acid rain.

Besides food, fossil fuels are our most important resource. According to www.bydesign.com, there are three major resources. These resources are coal, oil and natural gas. The environmental impact of fossil fuel usage affects us greatly as individuals and as a global community.

A ‘fossil fuel’ is a general term for organic materials that decayed and buried millions of years ago. These fuels can be burnt to process or extract high quantities of energy, the main reason behind their prevalence in society. When burnt however, fossil fuels produce greenhouse gasses, making them a harm to the Earth’s natural balance and health.

Today, though renewable energy sources exist, fossil fuels are still very prominent in supplying us with the everyday energy that we need.

Fossil fuel is a term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. The burning of fossil fuels by humans is the largest source of emission of carbon dioxide that allows radiative forcing and contributes to global warming. For example, fossil fuels like coal which is the major fuel burnt to produce electricity and car fuels emits a lot of carbon dioxide that is

1. Fossil fuels are non-renewable resource. They are also important raw materials for medical equipment, cosmetics, plastics, lubricants and synthetic fabrics. The burning of fossil fuels also contributed about three-quarter of human-made CO2 in past 20 years1.