Fossil
fuels: Importance and problems
The life would not be in existence
if there is no energy, otherwise billions of people will be hungry, so the use
of fossil fuels as a major source of energy. As the word suggests, ‘fossil’
which consists of the “remains of organisms preserved in rocks within the
earth's crust consisting of high carbon and hydrogen content”, generates the
energy in various forms (About.com,
2013).
The most popular forms are including
coal, oil and natural gas. With the increasing of world population, it is
showing that fossil fuel use will grow by 2010, and it will decrease to half by
2025 and 2030. However, this is worrying as the increase in population will be
reduced by the limited amount of fossil fuels which continue to less, making it
impossible to meet the global demand of energy. As such, different sources of
converting energy without the use of fossil fuels have and should be included
by both developed and developing countries. Although not used to their full
potential, this different kinds sources of energy, such as nuclear power and
geothermal energy (Alternative
energy, 2013).
Most of the countries they have
contained fossil fuels the main source of energy, because of the low cost of
use by converting natural resources to energy. The problems are its limited and
it is none renewable. So the earth can
only store a limited amount of coal ,oil and natural gas, The USA should not
totally focus and depend on fossils as there will be not enough for long-term.
Some
of the major environmental problems caused by these non-renewable energy
sources include air pollution, global warming, and acid rain. Global warming
results from too much CO2, a greenhouse gas that is released when burning
fossil fuels, released into the air. In his analysis, Biello (2013) estimates that emission of CO2 has increased by 300%
since 1950, with last year’s total of to 6.2 billion tons. The result in
increased carbon dioxide concentration by 29% above the pre-industrial level,
it is anticipated that global temperatures will also increase by 1 to 3.5
degrees Celsius. Finally, the earth’s weather system will result in flood
cities, increased storm damage, and diminished food production (Fueleconomy.com, 2013).
The substitute
renewable of resources of energy is the only solutions to the above
environmental problems of fossil fuels. But first, individual effort such as
installing solar panels and switching off electronic appliances when not in use
will help in reducing the consumption. Basically, there are efficient
technologies that convert sunlight, wind, nuclear power and earth’s heat into
energy. These clean sources of energy are estimated to reduce carbon emissions
by 80%. Top on the list of the clean sources include geothermal and nuclear
energy, are also environmentally-friendly and almost inexhaustible. Even though
1997 meeting of 160 country governments in Kyoto Japan to set goal and targets
to lower carbon emissions, many countries, including the US have not ratified
this Kyoto Protocol (Biello, 2013).
Most countries have
involved geothermal energy because it is clean and inexpensive. Even though the
technology is having been in use in choosing geothermal resources for the last
50 years, countries like the United States lag behind in tapping their geothermal
resources. Environmentally, geothermal power plants have minimum impact,
releasing little or no CO2. Of the many known areas of geothermal activity in
the US, few have been used, CA and Los Alamos, NM (SEED, 2013). If exploration of all the sites began a few years
ago, 49,000 megawatts of geothermal electricity would be generated by 2030.
However, coal is the preferred source of electricity generation because it
meets the requirements of being relatively cheap, easily supplied from the
source, has minimum pollution and environmental trouble, and is safe from
accident scenarios (Broder, 2013).
According
to Office of Fossil Energy
(2012), use of Nuclear power which is considered as largely carbon-free energy
source will in the long-run help to phase out fossil fuels. In the US, the
December 2008 372 gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity has unfortunately
been out by problems, as dangerous unused removal, safety concerns, lack of
fuel and change of technologies. But with the increased concern for climate
change, government supports, high natural gas prices, interest in nuclear power
has been revived. So many companies are re-designing nuclear plants into
more standardized versions that are easy to control, cheaper to install and
less to happen accidents. Although close 1500 new reactors will be required by
2050 to help in reducing global emissions, speeding up the construction of the
plants (that takes 10-15 years for a single plant), is not economically
possible. America estimate the first construction license will be approved in
2020 while the first plant will not begin operating till 2020 or beyond.
References
About.com. (2013). Environmental
Issues - Alternative Fuels & Fossil Fuels. (n.d.). Environmental Issues
- News and Information about the Environment. Retrieved May 11, 2013, from
http://environment.about.com/od/fossilfuels/Environmental_Issues_Fossil_Fuels_Alternative_Fuels.htm
Alternative energy. (2013). Alternative energy. Retrieved from http://www.altenergy.org/
Biello, D. (2013). Will Alternative-Energy Growth Tank During
New Fossil-Fuel Glut? Scientific
American. Retrieved from
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=alternative-energy-challenged-by-abundant-fossil-fuels
Broder, J. M. (2013, March 15). Obama Seeks to Use Oil and Gas Money to Develop Alternative
Fuel Cars. New York Times. Retrieved
from
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/us/politics/obamas-2-billion-plan-to-replace-fossil-fuels-in-cars.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Fueleconomy.com. (2013). Alternative Fuels. Retrieved from
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/current.shtml
Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy.
(2012). Retrieved from
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/fossil_energy_today_2012_6.pdf
SEED. (2013). Global
Climate Change and Energy Alternatives to Fossil Fuels. Retrieved from
http://www.planetseed.com/relatedarticle/alternatives-fossil-fuels
