The Environmental Impacts Of Fossil Fuels

The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,

In the current era, fossil fuel is a necessity in our everyday life, for not only it is used as an energy source, but also due to the high rate of dependability on the fuel itself. The recent drop in oil prices caused an enormous impact on the world economy, especially to the countries that are highly dependent on the fuel industry. The United States also are affected by this situation. One suggestion and a major change, in order to reduce the high dependency on the fossil fuel and to overcome the problems related to the usage of fossil fuel, is to start the wide use of biofuel as the fossil fuel replacement. The impact of this change, and also a huge improvement, not only will help to stabilize the economy, but also can help in reducing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

In the year 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States consumed a staggering 6.89 billion barrels of oil (U.S.EIA). Which in fact, equates to 18.89 million barrels being consumed every single day. That is a vast amount of petroleum products being consumed on a daily national level. If the calculation is made, based on a barrel equaling forty two gallons, it would come out to 289,583,700,000 gallons per year, or 793,380,000 gallons per day. The amount is incredible, almost unbelievable. If the United States continues its use of oil at this rate, the supply will only last another forty years. With more and more cars being on the road and operating machinery performing tasks, the supply of petroleum will not be able to meet demand forever. As our use of fossil fuels increases, so does our need for a new source of renewable energy.

How does the rising use of fossil fuels impact the earth? The simple answer is that the earth’s temperature rises, otherwise known as global warming. Global warming then devolves into climate change. Global warming has been “proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia” (“Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know?”) because of the world’s increasing reliance on fossil fuels. World-wide natural disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey, may be correlated to an increased risk in extreme weather events due to climate change. There has been efforts to curb climate change, such as pieces of legislation like the Paris Climate Accord, but beliefs of individual leaders such as Donald Trump, who “claims to think that links between carbon emissions and climate change are ‘a hoax’” (Steadman 19), has halted the fulfillment of such agreements between states. If there is not effective efforts to slow the emission rate, the earth will face devastating consequences. Therefore, the leaders of countries across the world must work together to develop a solution to slow climate change, or else the future will be disastrous.

` The continuous use of fossil fuels is leading the Earth on a path to destruction. Generations of advancement and technological innovation being brought down to rubble. Natural disasters wreaking havoc on innocent people across the world. Temperatures soaring above 125℉ globally. These are the results of the excessive use of fossil fuels. A chief concern in the 21st century is global warming and climate change, and the continued use of fossil fuels for the technology and daily lives of humans is key to blame. Decades ago, these problems were much more daunting and seemingly unsolvable than they are today, with the use of alternative energy sources and new

In the United States, a sustainable society is desired by virtually every citizen, especially the ones informed of the consequences caused by our wanton use of fossil fuels and the detrimental methods used to extract them from the earth. Nevertheless, despite almost universal acceptance of the need to turn away from nonrenewable and polluting energy sources, there are forces preventing that switch. One of those forces is the megalith that is our current energy paradigm, or the existing energy production/consumption infrastructure that we’ve built which runs largely on nonrenewable resources. Yet, as daunting as a transition to a world run on renewable energies like solar, an energy source with significant growth-potential, may seem from a technological and logistical standpoint, it is eminently feasible. The most problematic hurdle the United States faces is, in truth, political stagnation. While intense lobbying efforts from the fossil fuel industry and public utilities don’t help, the gridlock caused by the inherent framework of the U.S. political system is principally to blame for governmental malaise when it comes to investing in green technology. However, with increasing concerns over environmental degradation and impending climate change, progress has been made. The U.S. Department of Energy (USDE) has appointed 25 cities across the country to be part of its “Solar America City” initiative, including Philadelphia. Philadelphia, which aims to become the leading city in

The world right now is facing a major disaster if our habits don’t change. Fossil fuels dominate our energy demand and at our current rate this will remain true for quite some time. The World Energy outlook claims that by 2030 84% of our energy demands will be fulfilled by fossil fuels (Shafiee et al, 181). It is believed that we possess the reserves to meet our demands until 2030 (Shafiee et al, 181) but the cost will increase as time goes on. Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource, meaning that once we run out of what’s currently available, we cannot replenish it. Our future energy needs are heavily dependent on a non-renewable and quickly depleting energy source.

Fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas provide the U.S. with over 80 percent of its energy supply (McNerney & Cheek, 2012). Fossil fuels, formed from organic materials over the course of many centuries, have fueled the global and U.S. economic development for the past two centuries. Nonetheless, fossil fuels are finite resources that cause irreversible harm to the environment. Scientists consider them nonrenewable forms of energy since they take hundreds of years to form. According to Rand (2010), fossil fuels were responsible for 79 percent of the greenhouse emissions in 2010. Poor efficiency practices and higher energy demands have increased the usage of fossil fuels, and it is now important to find substitute means of generating

Everyday in U.S., immense amount of fossil fuel is burned. Fossil fuels are fuel formed by natural processes, such as decomposition of buried dead organisms. Fossil fuel release carbon dioxide when they are burned which adds to the greenhouse effect and increases global warming. The way we can help the environment and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide is by replaying fossil fuels with solar and wind sources for electric power generations in the U.S.

Fossil fuels are always used in the world and have been in the earth for millions of years, similar to how a tradition stays in a culture. Even though Fossil fuels are like traditions they are very harming by causing pollution to the environment. Fossil fuels also hurt animals and can destroy their environment. The burning of fossil fuels can endanger us by damaging our lungs every time we inhale. Fossil fuels have endangered the environment. They make life easier for us and it is statistically proven that 90% of our technological energy is powered by fossil fuels. They help powering cars, heating homes, and cook our food. These examples are just a few but there are a lot more of problems with these daily used resources.

Fossil fuels have been essential in the development of most industrial nations, there are a few realities of using them that these societies needs to come to terms with and they are most importantly the fact that these fossil fuels are finite and that they are detrimental to the health of our planet. With the growing need for our planet to steer away from the burning of fossil fuels, it has become inherent that we are very reliant on the burning of them to supply our energy demand, so much that it has become a daunting task to steer away from these fossil fuels and transforming to more environmentally friendly renewable energy sources.

Coal and natural gas are the United States’ main fossil fuels used as energy sources. These fossil fuels both contain mixtures of hydrocarbons, which is a chemical compound of carbon and hydrogen (Olah, 2005). Currently, fossil fuels provide eighty-five percent of commercial energy, such as businesses, worldwide and this eighty-five percent does not even account for residential use. Imagine if the residential energy use was accounted for in that eighty-five percent (Davison, 2007). According to Goodell (2006), “Between 1950 and 2000, the world population increased by 140 percent and fossil fuel consumption increased by 400 percent. By 2030, the world’s demand for energy is expected to more than double,” with most of the electricity

Within the next several hundred years, scientists predict planet Earth will meet its demise if humans fail to change their methods of energy consumption (Stehr). Right now, 192 out of 195 countries are using nonrenewable resources as their main source of energy (Shahan). The problem with this is that coal and oil are nonrenewable resources meaning once they are gone, they do not get replenished. These fossil fuels also emit high concentrations of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when burned and expended. Not only does this fuel global warming and its consequences, but greenhouse gases also pose as a health hazard to humans everywhere.

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’

Although fossil fuels have aided incentive economic development, the fast consumption of fossil fuels has also added to environmental damage, and could end up with higher prices in the future. The drilling, mining and transportation of fossil fuels can lead to the elimination of mountaintops, the pollution of ground water with methane, and oil spills that plunder beaches and oceans. The burning of fossil fuels can release chemicals that add to acid rain, smog and mercury contamination. These instantaneous environmental costs also go along with two prominent worries about