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