The Risk Our Society Takes by Depending on the Use of Fossil Fuels

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.

` 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

During the past couple of centuries, humans were able to accomplish more things than the entirety of human existence. Mankind was able to prolong life, cure deadly diseases, and more. One of the greatest achievements was converting fossil fuels into energy. People are able to take the fossilized remains and turn them into the everyday fuel everyone in the world uses. However, the energy humans have been using is not clean. The more people use fossil fuels, the more the planet dies. Fortunately, scientists and engineers were able to come up with ways to renew energy. They created new technologies that are capable of harvesting the sun’s rays, water currents, and wind power. Even though renewable energy sources like this have been discovered, people still neglect to convert to them and continue to use fossil fuels.

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

Although there is a common misconception that fossil fuels will cause pollution, mankind should rely on fossil fuels for energy not only because they are cheap and plentiful, but also because alternative energy is very unreliable.

Our modern world is one of busy streets, loud machines, and steaming factories. All three of these things, while necessary and important part of society, have some unintended effects on the world. We sometimes fail to realize the effect that we have on the world with every action that we take. The people of the world, in collaboration, are massive users of fossil fuels. The gas emissions that cars, busses, and even planes produce have a very profound effect on our atmosphere, and not many people take the initiative to reduce these harmful substances. However, there are some that are actively trying to find a solution to the problem to cleaner and renewable energy.

Fossil fuels are criticized for contributing to the “global warming” theory, and the “greenhouse effect” blamed on unregulated industry, and transference pollution in our atmosphere. While energy preservation and education are important, it doesn’t solve the long-term problem: energy is needed and is increasing in demand as technology and our way of life advances. It is not possible to install a solar panel on every house, or a windmill on every hill. Fueling the future is a growing challenge for the world. At the current rate of consumption, fossil fuels will soon run out. Nuclear energy is clearly one of the best answers to our energy problems. Nuclear power system produce a tremendous amount of energy for their mass and are very safe when

Peak oil is the hypothetical point in time when the global production of oil reaches its maximum rate, after which production will gradually decline. Three impacts that ‘peak oil’ will have on the society include the fact that humanity's way of life will be forced to change, products made by oil such as plastic will become rare and the fact that peak oil will have a great impact on food production. Three impacts that ‘peak oil’ will have on the environment include the fact that if oil runs out the world will need another source of energy so they have to dig more to find another source of energy, To extract oil from sandy tar deposits deposits, these places are usually strip-mined—which means the forests and wildlife on the surface are completely cleared away, In the refinement process a lot of fresh water in polluted, turning blue water to

Coal, petroleum, natural gas. Together, they are the producers of approximately eighty percent of the world’s energy, and, according to the US Energy Information Administration, are predicted to remain as such throughout the early to-mid twenty-first century (EIA 6). Yet there are far more efficient fuels options than these, as the profound xkcd cartoon to the right suggests, and these options do not involve polluting the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change, or contaminating marine life with black goo. Additionally, fossil fuels are nonrenewable resources, and by definition cannot be expected to last forever. They are simply not a feasible long-term option. Therefore, rather than merely limit the use of fossil fuels, world policymakers should put as much effort as possible into developing cleaner, more efficient energy options like nuclear fusion. When fully commercialized, these more potent fuel sources should make fossil fuels obsolete by their very presence in the economy.

All over the world, people have been stuck on using fossil fuels. This addiction has been ongoing for the past century as the primary source of energy. Global usage of fossil fuels which include oil, coal, and natural gas, is now producing mass amounts of greenhouse emissions within our atmosphere. Such a series of events have cascaded into changes that are currently effecting the earth on multiple levels. Several of these effects are, but are not limited to: earth’s sea levels rising every year, polar ice caps melting at an alarming rate, life threatening heat waves occurring all over various places of the world, and more impending, inevitable crisis are yet to approach. While most people have already started witnessing the horrible effects, unfortunately there are still those who continue to ignore accurately acquired scientific data that has been collected and presented. Some politicians and experts are still denying the facts about using biological fuels, or that using fossil fuels have harmful effects to the climate altogether with mostly unfounded skepticism. However, other leading nations like Brazil, have already began distancing themselves from fossil fuels to a cleaner biological fuel that is produced from sugar canes (Demain). As an industrial leader in technology, the United States should consider increasing the production and research of alternative fuels. Time is currently racing in the battle against these harmful effects that are rapidly spoiling living

Since the industrial age, fossil fuels have been used as a source of energy and power. The fossil fuels are used and converted into coal, oils, and gasses. The products of fossil fuels are mostly Carbon, which is harmful to the environment, leading to global warming and climate change, and O-zone destruction. These conditions cause global temperature increase, ocean acidification, rising sea-levels, health problems due to pollution, and the destruction of ecosystems (climate.nasa.gov). Considering these issues, alternative energy sources are something that can be used to help combat harmful fossil fuels and lessen humanity’s Carbon footprint (the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a person, group, etc.).

Oil reserves are found all over the world. Some reserves produced more oil than others. Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, Iran, and China are the top oil producing countries (U.S. Department of Energy, 2013). Petroleum is produced in 31 states throughout the United States (U.S. Department of Energy, 2013). Texas, Alaska, California, Louisiana, and Oklahoma are the states that produce the most petroleum (U.S. Department of Energy, 2013). It is used to fuel most cars in the United States, but petroleum is also used to make many more products that we use on a daily basis (U.S. Department of Energy, 2013). A majority of petroleum is turned into an energy source. Petroleum can be used to make heating oil, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and propane, in addition to making gasoline (U.S. Department of Energy, 2013). It can also be turned into petrochemical feedstock, which is derived from petroleum principally for the manufacturing of chemicals, synthetic rubber, and plastics (U.S. Department of Energy, 2013). It is used to make many common household products, such as crayons, dishwashing liquids, deodorant, eyeglasses, tires, and ammonia (U.S. Department of Energy, 2013).

World energy consumption in 2010: over 5% growth [6] Energy markets have combined crisis recovery and strong industry dynamism . Energy consumption in the G20 soared by more than 5% in 2010, after the slight decrease of 2009. This strong increase is the result of two converging trends. Onthe one-hand, industrialized countries, which experienced sharp decreases in energy demand in 2009, recovered firmly in 2010, almost coming back to historical trends. Oil, gas, coal, and electricity markets followed the same trend. On the other hand, China and India, which showed no signs of slowing down in 2009, continued their intense demand for all forms of energy.

 The world marketed energy consumption is projected to increase by 44% from 2006 to 2030

For years man has relied on energy in order to be successful in life. The industrial revolution relied on coal for the new inventions brought into the world. Life as has never been the same since then. However since that time, there has been little done to improve on energy efficiency and humans still primarily rely on fossil fuels for energy. For over a hundred years the Earth has become more polluted and dirtier than ever before. Now, with new, innovative technology there is an opportunity to change that and to rely on renewable, cleaner sources of energy. The main source of energy for the world should be alternative energy instead of energy from fossil fuels.