Most of the energy we use today comes from fossil fuels. Coal, oil, and natural gas are all fossil fuels created several millions of years ago by the decay of plants and animals. These fuels lie buried between layers of earth and rock. While fossil fuels are still being created today by underground heat and pressure, they are being consumed much more rapidly than they are created. Therefore, sometimes in the future we will run out of them.
How the Use of Fossil Fuels Change the Environment Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as the decomposition of buried dead organisms exposed to heat and pressure in the Earth's crust over millions of years, sometimes exceeding 650 million years. The use of fossil fuels includes fuel for power plants, vehicle engines, heating, etc. However, it cannot be used directly in its raw form. It has to be burned or combusted in order to take effect, which is to produce energy. Unfortunately, the activity of burning or combusting fossil fuels releases various kinds of hazardous substances and pollutants which eventually leads to changes in the environment; such as climate change, global warming, and changes in environmental health.
Coal like most of our current energy fuels is finite, it cannot be replenished once it is burned and cannot be considered a renewable resource. Most people do not know that coal is just decomposed plant and animal matter that over millions of years is gradually transformed into hard black solids by the sheer weight of the earth. Coal is typically burned to create steam, which is then piped at high pressure over a turbine, causing it to rotate, producing electricity. So what does coal have to do with going Green? Coal produces over 57% of the electricity generated in the United States.
Non-renewable fuels are organically-derived fuels. The original organic material, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas. These fuels are hard to come by and are sometimes harmful to the environment when burned. Concerns about these fuel sources has been very prominent in the past few years. Concerns greenhouse gas emissions and many other things such as energy security has caused for people to look towards a new source of fuel.
1. Identify and define the chosen topic I have chosen the topic, the effect of one particular fossil fuel on the environment, for my science assignment. The fossil fuel I will be basing it on is coal, which is a dark brown/ black solid substance formed from the compaction and hardening of fossilized plant parts in the presence of water and in the absence of air. Coal is a valuable and plentiful natural global resource. Not only does coal provide electricity, it is also an essential fuel for steel and cement production, and other industrial activities.
The consequence of climate change is serious. It will cause sea level rises，more flooding and stronger storm. Secondly, the shortage of fossil fuels is also a big problem, which is means fossil fuels are finite and non-renewable. If people cannot use them reasonably and economically, fossil fuels will be used up very soon. Klass model is a good illustration of this problem and it assumes a continuous compound rate and computes fossil fuel reserve depletion times for oil, coal and gas of approximately 35, 107 and 37 years, respectively (Shahriar & Erkan, 1).
Oil is the God of Earth and we don’t even know it. Everybody in the world or should I say most of us are too dependent on it. Oil is good and bad at the same damn time. Oil is good because everything we do today we wouldn’t or couldn’t us it without oil, such as agricultural advances, if we didn’t have these advances we could still be living in the past. Five hundred years ago we didn’t have cars hair products or cooking oil.
The three types of fossil fuels are coal, crude oil, and natural gas. They all take millions of years to form, so they are considered to be “non-renewable”- eventually, the fossil fuels will all be used up. One dangerous biological effect of using fossil fuels is ocean acidification. Extracting and transporting fossil fuels can also be very dangerous. Environmentally damaging accidents such as groundwater contamination, land subsidence, and oil spills occur frequently.
An animal could also be forced to relocate from its current home because of an excess of trash that restrain the daily activities needed to survive. The planet is the one body that cannot be replaced when it comes to being impacted by this issue. The bags that are thrown out and end up in landfills and sit for many hundred years since they are not easily broken down by our environment. A report done by the Moore Recycling Associates showed that an estimated 812,010,000 pounds of used plastics (plastic bags also) were recovered during 2006 and 2005. (Ian 1).
At first we thought that this is a gift from Mother Earth, but we now realize its consequences. Pollution and wastes that are excreted into the environment can yield devastating aftermath that will affect not only Earth, but also humans. After centuries from now, these sources will also be depleted. So we should find recyclable alternatives that are more efficient and cleaner than the traditional sources. Energy sources on Earth is finite, nothing will last forever.