Earth's Dependence on Fossil Fuels

Contradictory to what many people believe, fossil fuels are not dead dinosaur remains. “In fact, most of the fossil fuels we find today were formed millions of years before the first dinosaurs” (“Fossil Energy: How Fossil Fuels Were Formed,” n.d.). They were formed from prehistoric plants and animals that lived many millions of years ago and are considered non-renewable because they are not sustainable and cannot be easily replaced due to their formation taking billions of years. “When these ancient living things died, they decomposed and became buried under layers and layers of mud, rock, and sand. Eventually, hundreds and sometimes thousands of feet of earth covered them” (“Fossil Energy: How Fossil Fuels Were Formed,” n.d.). In some

Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

Currently fossil fuels are the world’s primary energy source. The fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gases. Fossil fuels are organic materials formed from decayed plants and animals that due to heat and pressure from hundreds of

The United States needs a change in its energy sources. Oil, first of all, is a scarce resource that will eventually run out, and it also makes the U.S. depend on the political situation in other countries, as can be seen at the frequent changes in oil prices due to the political situation in the Middle-East. Alternative energy sources are an important issue to consider and nuclear energy is certainly the most controversial. There are currently 104 nuclear power plants operating in the United States, but the licenses of those plants will expire in foreseeable future, the first one already in 2013 and the last one in 2046 (Nuclear Energy Inst.). Those expiration dates initiate the discussions if the licenses should be renewed for the plants

Contradictory to what many people believe, fossil fuels are not dead dinosaur remains. “In fact, most of the fossil fuels we find today were formed millions of years before the first dinosaurs” (“Fossil Energy: How Fossil Fuels Were Formed,” n.d.). They were formed from prehistoric plants and animals that lived many millions of years ago and are considered non-renewable because they are not sustainable and cannot be easily replaced due to their formation taking billions of years. “When these ancient living things died, they decomposed and became buried under layers and layers of mud, rock, and sand. Eventually, hundreds and sometimes thousands of feet of earth covered them” (“Fossil Energy: How Fossil Fuels Were Formed,” n.d.). In some areas, these materials were covered by ancient seas before they dried up. “During the millions of years that passed, the dead plants and animals slowly decomposed into organic materials and formed fossil fuels. Different types of fossil fuels were formed depending on what combination of animal and plant debris was present, how long the material was buried, and what conditions of temperature and pressure existed when they were decomposing” (“Fossil Energy: How Fossil Fuels Were Formed,” n.d.). For example, oil and natural gas were created from plants and/or animals that lived in the water and were buried under bodies of water such as oceans, rivers, etc.

There is a common misconception that fossil fuels come from dead dinosaurs, and while this is not actually true, fossil fuels do come from dead plans and animals, however they were dead long before the dinosaurs roamed the earth (U.S. Department of Energy). The type of animal and plant, as well as the varied combinations these could create, determine the type of fossil fuel that was formed (U.S. Department of Energy): oil, natural gas, or coal. The EIA defines fossil fuels as “concentrated organic compounds found in the Earth’s crust” (Fossil Fuels). This means that fossil fuels are formed when

Over the past several years, scientists have researched the impact fossil fuels currently have on our world today. These sources of energy have an irreversible and devastating consequence on our environment. Fossil fuels are disliked due to being non-renewable and unsustainable. As more technological advancements have occurred, more efforts have arisen related to replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy. Due to the integration of existing technology the public has become reluctant to adopt new energy technologies. Renewable energy brings many desirable health, environmental, and economic benefits. These renewable methods may ultimately provide a brighter future for generations to come.

The formation of the other two fossil fuels (crude oil and natural gas) took millions of years just like coal. Oil and gas come from the remains of small animals and plants. Long ago, when the animals and plants died, they sank to the bottom of the sea. The dead matter formed a large mass, which over time was covered by layers of sand, silt, and mud. As the weight of the sediment increased, the mass became more and more compressed. Then, the heat and pressure of the Earth eventually turned the mass into oil and gas. If the heat applied during the formation was low, then more oil was produced than gas. If the temperature was

Building enough power plants to provide the world with energy would mean increasing our CO2 production in the process of making them. Once the power plants are built, although they don't use CO2 to produce energy, to keep the factories running and transport all of the waste releases more CO2 (1). Switching to renewable energy would progress us further into stopping climate change. We would be cutting down on CO2 emissions by a much greater amount. This would make a more significant difference on the climate change (1). This shows that using renewables would make a larger impact on the world and how to help save it. The Industry already has technology to switch to 100% renewables, they just don't want to let go of their nuclear technology (4). Another danger of nuclear power is the risk of terrorism and violence. People are worried that if violent protesters advance on nuclear technology, the amount of violences will increase. This is another reason to end our nuclear technology knowledge while we can (1). Furthermore, not only do nuclear plants harm the industry and economy, they also harm the people and the environment. The evidence is showing that being around nuclear radioactivity causes people to have cancer. Not only does the radiation cause people to have cancer, but it also damages their DNA. Additionally, it harms the environment, not just humans. Animal's are affected in several different forms. Some examples are, Diarrhea, vomiting, internal bleeding, anemia, exhaustion, permanent sterilization and death

To better understand fossil fuels, we need to look at each one separately. The first fossil fuel that most people think of is oil. “Oil was formed from layers of sediments rich in the remains of tiny (microscopic) plants and animals. As the layers were buried deeper and deeper below younger layers of sediment, the plant and animal

Coal, oil, and gas were all formed from the remains of decayed and decomposing ancient animals and plants (Science Daily 2014). These fossil fuels we produced far before the dinosaurs ever roamed the earth, during the Carboniferous Period (Chapter 8 2012). This period of time, estimated around 360-286 million-years-ago, is believed to be when the earth was covered mostly in trees, plants, and swamps, and the bodies of water existing at the time were all filled with hundreds-of-millions of small plants called algae.

Nuclear power is being forced out of its own industry because of alternative energy sources such as wind power, hydrogen energy, solar power, tidal energy, geothermal energy, biomass energy, coal, oil, and natural gas. The overall reason to why these energy sources are forcing the nuclear energy out of business is because each of these alternative energy sources claim to be more efficient, more sustainable, and more environmentally friendly. There is an increased demand for alternative energy sources because of the rapid incline in climate change and the urge to suddenly have a true impact on our environment. This urge exists because in the past, many environmentally harmful products were mass produced and different energy sources were created, but they were harmful to the environment. “The social changes of the 1960s brought a new ecological awareness to American culture, galvanizing the environmental movement.” (“Conserving the Environment”) These harmful products and energy sources were used excessively and caused the earth to respond with climate change. Many people believe that there is a need to “catch up” and to make a true impact on our environment.

Citizens of countries where fossil fuels are being utilized are concerned at the possible chance of global warming. So many greenhouse gases emitted, ice burgs and caps are shifting or melting, that population is beginning to worry about what is going to happen to the environment in the future if this source is kept being used. With nuclear energy we don’t have to worry about the environmental changes. Nuclear energy has

Today, global energy consumption heavily relies on fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, in 2015, Australia relied 86% of the electricity generation on traditional non-renewable energy sources (73% coal, 13% natural gas).1 The burning of these fossil fuels has been very closely associated with carbon and greenhouse gas emission, resulting changes in the climate such as global warming and extreme weathers. The CO2 emissions had increased from estimated 198 megatons in 1850 to an astonishing 32274 megatons in 2011. The CO2 emission increased 160 times in just the last 160 years.2 As such, the exploration of new, clean renewable energy sources becomes increasing important. To meet the ever increasing demand for energy,

Today, global energy consumption heavily relies on fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, in 2015, Australia relied 86% of the electricity generation on traditional non-renewable energy sources (73% coal, 13% natural gas).1 The burning of these fossil fuels has been very closely associated with carbon and greenhouse gas emission, resulting changes in the climate such as global warming and extreme weathers. The CO2 emissions had increased from estimated 198 megatons in 1850 to an astonishing 32274 megatons in 2011. The CO2 emission increased 160 times in just the last 160 years.2 As such, the exploration of new, clean renewable energy sources becomes increasing important. To meet the ever increasing demand for energy, renewable energy resources like solar, wind, geothermal, tidal wave and biomass have been introduced and successfully made up almost 22% of the global electricity generation in 2013, and the IEA predicted that this number is going to increase to at least 26% by 2020.