Fossil Fuels Essay examples -- Energy, Environmental Essays, Natural R

dodo Fuels Energy, whether it was cheerlight or heat from a forest fire, has always been grave to society. However, with the onset of the industrial revolution over 200 years ago, wood alone could no longer support the increasing energy demand. The realness quickly turned to coal to satisfy its energy needs, and it has been reliant on fossil fuels ever since. Despite the inroads renewable and nuclear energies have make in recent decades, the vast majority of energy used by society still comes from the three main fossil fuels petroleum, natural suck, and coal. As a result, it is important to know how these fuels were haveed, the rates at which they are produced and consumed, and how very much is economically recoverable for future use. The formation of petroleum and natural gas began hundreds of millions of years ago as energy from the sun in the form of light radiated toward the earth. Algae that were in the ocean during this time used the suns radiant energy to produce ener gy of their own by dint of the process of photosynthesis. Plankton, being unable to produce energy on its own, consumed alga to obtain energy. When the algae and plankton died, they fell to the ocean floor and accumulated in the mud. As accumulation continued, pressure and temperature were plusd on the underlying layers of thorough mud. When the pressure became great enough, the mud lithified into organic-rich shale that is referred to as the source totter. If this source rock is candid to temperatures between 80C and 160C, the organic take forms into crude. Natural gas will form if the source rock is exposed to temperatures between 80C and 225C(Marshak 431-2). The gas windowpane overlaps the oil window, which means the formation of oil and ... ... which is having a tremendous impact on the environment. By burning these fossil fuels, the US releases five billion metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year(Ristinsen 333). This number will increase in the coming years, wh ich will significantly affect the global climate of the future. Despite the limited amount of petroleum and natural gas, the addition of shale oil and tar sands to our energy reserves will increase the length of service of fossil fuel use in society. Alternative sources of energy moldiness croak more widely used, or else the earth will become uninhabitable due to the effects of global warming sooner than the fossil fuel reserves can be depleted. Works CitedMarshak, Stephen. Earth depicting of a Planet. W.W. Norton & Company New York, 2001.Ristinen, Robert A Jack J. Kraushaar. Energy and the Environment. bath Wiley & Sons New York, 1999.