Fossil
Fuels
Zain
Chaudhary
Fossil
fuels are created by the decomposition of biodegradable materials such as dead
plants and animals. When these animals die, they are covered with layers of
dirt and transformed into fossil fuels over time. These fossil fuels contain
energy that can be extracted through mechanical means (ex. burning them). In
modern day, we rely on fossil fuels as our main source of energy. The three tio sources of fossil
fuel energy are: coal, natural gas, and oil (petroleum). Oil, coal and natural
gas supply nearly 88 percent of the world’s energy needs, or about 350
quadrillion BTUs (Ecology.com). Despite all of the benefits that the world
reaps out of fossil fuels there are many detrimental effects of their
extraction and use.
First and foremost, considering that
fossil fuels take millions of years to form, the realization that there can
only be so much comes about. In fact, some
of the fossil fuels that are being consumed today are over 650 million
years old. There is no possible way to duplicate the change that occurs in
these millions of years and thus no way to create more fossil fuels, hence they
are categorized as non-renewable. The burning of fossil fuels will eventually
reach an obstruction, so we must act appropriately before it even happens.
Secondly,
fossil fuels tend to have a high concentration of carbon within them, which are
released when they are burnt. Normally there is a balanced proportion of carbon
(greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere, but the burning of fossil fuels releases a
disastrous amount. In effect, an unbalanced proportion of greenhouse gases
results in global warming and climate changes.
The
solution to all of these problems is renewable energy. Yet the irony lies
wherein there exists another problem within the solution to all of the original
problems. There is a reason why renewable energy has not been put into
effect-money. Renewableenergy
sources such as: hydroelectricity and solar panels are very costly. Creating
them on a mass scale is deffinately
not possible as of right now. Hopefully in the future, new technology will aid
us in the advent for clean, renewable energy.
Fossil fuels present a unique problem to society because as long as there is a supply there will be a significant demand. However the assumption that the supply of non-renewable energy sources will be cut off sometime in the near future begs the question of how to further sustain the human population cost effectively without making the same mistakes as with these fossil fuels. Nobody wants to lose money but resources like solar power and nuclear energy need to be invested in if humanity wants to move into a higher phase of self-sufficiency. Harnessing all the resources available to us needs to be the primary goal of scientific research and technology in the next few centuries.
ReplyDelete