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 generation coming from fossil fuels, mostly coal. The world is extremely dependant on many fossil fuels, not just coal and natural gas, and many countries are not using these fossil fuels in moderation. Fossil fuels have already significantly depleted and hardly anyone is taking into consideration that these fuels are nonrenewable because they take millions of years for the Earth to produce them. Although fossil fuel supplies are not infinite, there is currently no shortage but as fossil fuels continue to deplete, the cost of these fuels will increase dramatically. Despite the fact that these fuels are nonrenewable, these resources will remain the leading source of energy but as these fuels become less available, the world will become increasingly dependent on energy conservation and alternative sources of energy (Olah, 2005). Coal and natural gas are very different fossil fuels especially when it comes to environmental issues, content and life cycle, and cost and demand. The main problem wi...
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Semantically fossil fuels are a renewable source of energy, however given that it takes millions of years for the organic materials to be broken down and converted, it is wholly unrealistic to consider them as renewable. As the demand for fossil fuels increases and source diminish faster than they are replentished, the United States must work towards a renewable energy independent state using truly renable sources, both technically and in practice. With changes in the home, as consumers in buying goods and with alternative fuel sources backed by public trust and governmental involvement, the United States could drastically lessen its dependence on fossil fuels, foreign and domestic.
Fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, are Carbon rich compounds, the combustion of which produces Carbon Dioxide, a pollutant and a greenhouse gas. A large amount of energy is released during this process, which is why the pollutants off products are tolerated. This process occurs constantly throughout the world, in power stations, vehicles and cooking ovens, leading to an immense volume of CO2 being released every second, 50% of which is absorbed by oceans (Oce...
"The Toll from Coal." Catf.us. Clean Air Task Force, Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
From the home to factories, families and industries are reliant on the use of nonrenewable fossil fuels to feed the needs of the everyday human. Fossil fuels are the main source of energy over clean, renewable sources such as the use of wind, solar energy, and water to power our homes, schools, and industries. In fact, about 85% of energy use comes from fossils fuels. The main reason being that using fossil fuels is cheaper than wind and solar energy. “For nearly two centuries, fossil fuels have been the cheapest source of energy” and widely abundant (Marburger, A global framework: international aspects of climate change). However, overtime fossil fuels will disappear due to the lack of time to replenish itself with the human races rapid use of it. Despite its current status of availability, there are many controversial issue in using fossil fuels; the most prominent issue being that it is the cause of rapid climate
The recent advances in fracking technology has enabled us to reach previously unreachable reserves of natural gas and oil, “In 2008, after the breakthrough, the amount of domestic natural resources surged to 2.5 quadrillion feet. In other words, in just one year's time, we expanded our access to domestic natural gas by 66 percent”(Simmons ) and these reserves are huge. They are estimated to contain enough natural gases to power America for hundreds
Roughly 68 percent of the electricity generated in the United States of America is produced by fossil fuels. That includes petroleum, natural gases and coal. Although coal contributes around 37 percent to the factor, it is by far not the cleanest of them all. Some might argue that it is good for the economy because it is cheap and it creates jobs.. But the other side of the story portrays coal mining as a process that kills thousands of coal miners a year and that it practically destroys the environment around the mining with soot and air pollution. Mining now days is a big part of urbanization; due to how cheap the process is. There are different ways that coal mining is done. Mainly mountain top removal is done but there are many other
...ology, but presumably they can indeed not offset the cost incurred in carbon storage. Hence overall the economics are negatively contributed (36). Although this doesn’t factor-in significantly in the growth or fall of CO2-EOR projects still it has reasonable contribution in putting a foundation for the future of such a technology.
The development of science and technology has led to people considering using alternative fuels to generate electricity. There are many alternative fuels that can generate electricity, such as natural gas, nuclear energy, wind energy, hydraulic power and so on (Fossil Fuels Used to Generate Electricity Power Plant Emissions of North America). According to the statistics by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2009, the usage of coal was still the largest source to generate the power. Sources of electricity in the United States were generated by 44.9% of coal, 20.3% of nuclear, 23.4% of natural gas, 1% of petroleum, 6.9% of hydroelectric conventional and 3.6% of others (Electric Power Monthly with Data for February 2014). Coal is the main source of electricity in many parts of the world, including the United States. One of the reason why most countries prefer to use coal to generate the electricity is that the cost of using coal is cheaper than other sources but powerful. The coal power stations are much easier to set up than other power station. There are many advantages in generating power from coal. Coal as a source of electricity is economic, safe, effective and it is easy to eliminate the secondary pollutions and so on. As a result, the usage of coal should remain its status and cannot be replaced by other fuels.
Over the last two centuries, humanity has become increasingly reliant on fossil fuels. Over that time, the consequences of constantly burning fossil fuels have accumulated into a threat to industrialized cities. The burning of fossil fuels causes acid rain to shower on cities and ecosystems around the world, tormenting their inhabitants. The increasingly deadly pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels has caused the deaths of many people around the world by causing respiratory problems. Not only has the pollution worsened, but the supply of fossil fuels is not limitless – as humanity’s reliance increases the supply decreases, and that is all the more reason to break humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels should be replaced with cleaner alternatives because fossil fuels cause environmental hazards, are non-renewable, and are detrimental to human health.
In addition to the fact that solar, wind, and hydro power are local resources, they are also emission free resources. Emissions and pollution are a key concern with traditional power sources. The coal-fired plants that dominate U.S. energy production also produce more emissions than any other energy source. “Em...
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Renewable energy — wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass — provides substantial benefits for our climate, our health, and our economy.” One major benefit is that there would be little to no global warming emissions. Currently, electricity production accounts for about one-third of the emissions put off by the United States, mostly due to coal-fired plants. Renewable energy sources would produce little to no emissions. “According to data aggregated by the International Panel on Climate Change, life-cycle global warming emissions associated with renewable energy—including manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance, and dismantling and decommissioning—are minimal” When comparing renewable sources to natural gas, which emits between 0.6 and 2 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour (CO2E/kWh), renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro-electrical power emit somewhere between .07 and .5 (CO2E/kWh). It is obvious that renewable energy is the way to go in order to solve the energy production problem. (Benefits of Renewable Energy
Fossil fuels are an important part of life. When you turn on the lights, watch TV, or take a shower, the electricity that you are using is being generated by fossil fuels. 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. Global warming is another possible environmental effect. Fossil fuels have a crucial role in modern society, but since they are non-renewable and dangerous, we should reduce our dependence on them and explore alternative energy sources. Wind energy, hydroelectricity, and solar energy are some examples of renewable fuel sources. There are also many things that people can do everyday to save energy (and, in turn, conserve fossil fuels).
The world that we live into today affords us the expectation that the flip a switch will turn the lights on. As populations increase and developing nations undergo dramatic economic growth, this energy demand will only continue to grow. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that “the world’s energy needs could be 50% higher in 2030 than they are today” (ElBaradei). Given this projected growth, it is necessary for world leaders must take action to secure the energy supply. Meaning that world leaders need to start seriously considering an alternative to non-renewable energy sources. “In 2012, the United States generated about 4,054 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. About 68% of the electricity generated was from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), with 37% attributed from coal” (U.S. Energy Information Administration). The fossil fuels that are used to supply over half of our country’s energy are in finite supply and are increasing in price to astronomical heights.
Fossil fuels are energy that is in the form of coal, oil, or natural gas that comes from organisms from millions of years ago. The cycle to create fossil fuels takes millions of years to form and is therefore considered a nonrenewable resource of energy. Fossil fuels have been the primary source of energy for man ever since the age of machines, but one of “the main problem[s] with fossil fuels is that there is a limited amount of them” (Problem with Fossil Fuel). As countries become more developed, like the United States, they too will become more thirsty and dependent for fossil fuels. “In 2004, America spent approximately $270 billion to fufill its oil need.” and “90% of all transportation is fueled by oil” (Nakaya 10). With the global rate of fossil fuels going up it is inevitable that they are going to run out, forcing countries to choose an alternative energy source. The other huge problem with dependence on fossil fuels is the effect that the emissions have on the climate. Fossil fuels are made of carbon chains and in order for the reaction...
Fuels like coal, and oil that once were a fine innovation in creating energy are now rapidly deleting and one day will be gone forever; energy that won’t last is often referred to as non-renewable energy. Besides being set up to fail and become inefficient in the future, fossil fuel energy is not clean to use and poses several environmental complications. Coal, for instance is “the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal combustion not only produces sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and snow, it generates millions of tons of particulates that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases.” As with all usage of fossil fuels, it creates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to greenhouse gas. Not only are fossil fuels dirty, they also pose as a security risk and unforgiving on the American wallet. (Saini)