The Pros And Cons Of Fossil Fuels

920 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on advantages of solar energy

Whether you believe it or not, this planet is not headed in the right direction. The key to surviving for any organism is adapting to the environment, and planet Earth could use some help in that department. There has been an exponential increase of pollution throughout the world, mainly due to the increase in fossil fuel burning, as well as the increase of associated air emissions. Burning fossil fuels is the most common way of creating energy. The main reason why fossil fuels are bad for our health is because burning them releases a number of extremely harmful gases, such as carbon dioxide and monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons. Their combination released into the atmosphere creates a nasty overhang we commonly refer to as smog. The most common gas that is released from the burning of fossil fuels is carbon dioxide, which is mainly known for trapping heat in the environment, and keeping the toxic chemicals trapped in the atmosphere as well. In the last 150 years, there has been a 25% increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Then question is how can we stop burning fossil fuels? Solar panels. Solar …show more content…

This could provide to be very risky and unreliable in states where the weather, such as Illinois, is constantly changing and often times raining. If the weather is always bad, this will just be a waste of money for the consumer, because this becomes a loss money as well as a loss of energy. This energy provides a lot to an average household, such as cooking, laundry, ect. So without it, a lot of basic necessities will be lost. The costs are also a very real factor in this process as well, because one whole system for a house is around an average of $10,000. That is a lot of money that a lot of people don’t

Show More
Related

  • The Conundrum Sparknotes

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Natural gas, Priuses, LEDs, hydropower, solar power, burning trash, or improving traffic is not the answer to becoming a green nation. People need to change their behavior in order to change their actions; everyone must take a stand and use cars less, use less electricity, and use less of everything, because less is enough. If we wish to discourage society from using excess energy there needs to be an increase in: prices of oil, electricity, worsened traffic, and denser city populations. There is a way to do this without having the populace revolt: increase the prices of these services or goods nevertheless offering a modest stipend for those who decrease usage. If we truly want to live on Earth for a prolonged period of time, then we need to take care of her but are we willing to change our consumer mentality for the future of our

    Read More

  • America’s Reliance on Fossil Fuels

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1908, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) predicted that the total future supply of U.S. oil would not exceed 23 billion barrels. In 1914, the U.S. Bureau of Mines predicted that only 5.7 billion barrels of oil remained. In 1920, the USGS proclaimed the peak in U.S. oil production was almost reached. In 1939, the Department of Interior declared that there was only 13 years of oil production remaining. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter claimed, “We are now running out of oil.” Despite these predictions, the U.S. has produced over 200 billion barrels of oil since the early 1900’s. (The Futurist, 1997)

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Fracking

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today's global economy, energy is one of the most crucial and sought after commodities. Who supplies it and how much they supply determines how much influence they have over other countries as well as the global economy. This is why hydraulic fracturing is currently such an important and controversial topic in the United States. Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as "fracking" or hydrofracturing, is the process of using pressurized liquids to fracture rocks and release hydrocarbons such as shale gas, which burns more efficiently than coal. This booming process of energy production provides a much needed economic boost, creating jobs and providing gas energy for Americans. The efficiently burning shale gas reduces carbon emission from electricity production plants, reducing carbon footprints on the environment. However, the process of hydraulic fracturing uses millions of gallons of pressurized liquid, which contains toxic chemicals, and some of this water is left over undealt with. The air near fracking sites is often also polluted and unsafe for nearby community residents. Injecting millions of gallons of water laced with toxic chemicals into the rock thousands of feet deep can cause earthquakes, causing a safety hazards for all nearby areas. Hydraulic Fracturing makes rare natural gases easily attainable, boosting the economy and reducing carbon emissions. However, the negative side effects such as contaminated water and air, make hydraulic fracturing a process that may not be worth the benefits.

    Read More

  • Pros and Cons of Fracking

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    The U.S federal government should significantly increase fracking because oil and gas fracking is big business in America, with more than two million hydraulically fractured wells across the country producing 43 and 67 percent of our national oil and gas outputs, respectively. But in my opinion these wells also nearly played a secondary role as nuclear waste storage sites and had the Atomic Energy Commission had its way with Project Plowshare. And fracking is the process of pumping water deep into the Earth, specifically into underground oil and gas reserves, at tremendous pressures in order to break apart the surrounding rock and free the energy product, which can then be pumped out and used. However in the mid 1950s, scientists from the Atomic Energy Commission and officials from the U.S. Bureau of Mines did begin experimenting with an alternative method of fracking, one that employed nuclear bombs more powerful than anything we dropped on the Japanese.

    Read More

  • Fossil Fuels: The Pros And Cons Of Hydrogen

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hydrogen lies in one of the copious replacements for gasoline. It is not an energy source such as oil, but an energy carrier that is produced instead of digging and finding it underground. Though replacing fossil fuels by hydrogen fuel cell is very hard and costs a great deal, for the most part, hydrogen fuel cell is a zero carbon emission fuel which highly reduces the carbon emissions that causes pandemic global warming. Hydrogen is very helpful for nature by cause of replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen fuel cells might end global warming once and for all.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Biofuels

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many have said that bio-fuels are the fuel of the future, and others say it is just going to harm the atmosphere even more than are normal fuels. Well today we will be looking at some positives and negatives about bio-fuels.

    Read More

  • Fossil Fuels vs. Renewable Energy

    1889 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Coal Pollution

    951 Words  | 2 Pages

    The effects of using fossil fuels are starker than their timelines. Humans release approximately two billion metric tons of pollution annually, mostly from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas; this pollution is destroying our environment and the ozone layer. Ozone and smog damage forests, crops, and other plant life, and reduces visibility. Other pollutants have the same

    Read More

  • Coal Mining Pros And Cons

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    People can also reduce the use of fossil fuels by doing simple things for instance switching off lights and appliances when leaving the room. Walking or cycling instead of driving a car or use public transport for maybe longer journeys. Little things like this will make a big difference, making our planet a better place.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of Hot Water Heaters

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many benefits of using solar water heaters. Sunlight is free and environmentally friendly and this planet has so much to use(“Getting better acquainted”). The sun’s energy is renewable, suns energy is all over the world (“Getting better acquainted”). Solar energy has many uses, and it can be stored and used. “Solar energy can be used in many ways to provide heat, lighting, mechanical power, and electricity” (“Getting Better Acquainted”). New steps are being made in solar technology to save resources. America will save so much money and many barrels of oil by switching to solar power, “Skyrocketing fuel prices and tax credit of nearly 30% established in the energy policy act of 2005”(“Tapping into the sun”). The solar water system won’t cost much only “$3000 to $6000” (“Tapping into the sun”) so it will be affordable. “The technology can cut the average family’s costs to heat water by 20 to 40 percent (as much as 90% in some southwestern regions)”(“Tapping into the sun”).

    Read More

  • Fossil Fuels and Alternative Energy Sources

    2001 Words  | 5 Pages

    The three fossil fuels- coal, crude oil, and gas slowly formed over millions of years. These days, we use fossil fuels to power everything- homes, buildings, cars, computers, lights, etc. However, fossil fuels deposits will run out soon, which is a huge problem. Extracting, transporting, and burning fossil fuels are dangerous. There are also many negative biological and environmental impacts that result from the use of fossil fuels, such as ocean acidification, groundwater contamination, land subsidence, oil spills, and global warming. Therefore, we should be trying to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and explore alternative energy sources such as wind energy, hydroelectricity, and solar energy instead. Our world depends on fossil fuels, but they can also hurt us. Fossil fuels are both a blessing and a curse.

    Read More

  • Simple Solution to Climate Change

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    Global heating and cooling has occurred on a cycle for millennia, however in the past thirty years the increased use of energy and fuels by humans has drastically changed this natural occurrence (Juerg, 2007). The largest cause of this warming is the release of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide levels are twenty-five percent higher than they were in 1957 (UCS, 2013). This seemingly insignificant change has caused a myriad of negative effects. The endangerment of species, rising of sea levels, and increased natural disasters are just a few examples of change brought about by global warming (Juerg, 2007). Even though global climate change presents a massive problem there are many proposed solutions to fix or delay it. These theories range from creating a giant sun shield in space to the simple practice of “reduce, reuse, and recycle” (Gray, 2009). However the most effective solution is to find different sources of fuel to power our day to day lives. The earth is in need of renewable, effective, and long lasting fuels. Global warming can be slowed through the use of renewable energy as it is versatile, clean, a good investment, and can easily be put into place in several different climates and environments.

    Read More

  • New Energy for the Future

    1349 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Renewable Energy is the Future

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    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)

    Read More

  • Decentralization Of Energy Essay

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    Small renewable units should be installed at rural areas and big units near to the cities.

    Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of Fossil Fuels

Open Document