Fossil fuels are found in deposits in rock formations. The formation began 350 million years ago. It is theorized that decayed remains of ancient plants and animals were buried by sediments. Over millions of years increased pressure and heat caused this biological decay to change chemically to form coal, oil and natural gas.
After food, fossil fuel is humanity’s most important source of energy. There are three major fuels coal, oil and natural gas. Coal is used primarily to produce electricity. It therefore provides us with light, motive power from electric motors, and our many electronic devices. Oil gives us our mobility, our cars, planes, trains, trucks and boats. Natural gas is used primarily to produce heat, for our buildings, hot water, and industrial processes..
Most electricity in the US, about 70%, is generated using fossil fuels, especially coal. There are several thousand power generating and supply organizations including investor owned utilities, government - especially municipal - utilities, rural electric cooperatives and independent power producers. Utilities and cooperatives sell the electricity to consumers, so do power marketers in some states, where consumers can now choose their supplier. The electric power industry is changing in a big way, called deregulation. Competition is being added at many levels. The future, including the role of fossil fuel, is hard to predict.
Although there is an enormous amount of inexpensive fossil fuels that are still untapped the continued exploitation of these nonrenewable resources will deplete as time elapses. In the future, after the last sequestered drop of oil or inhalation of coal fly ash, big business will be in renewable energies. Today there is a considerable interest in this topic. This is due to the growing concerns of environmental degradation due to the burning of fossil fuels. Acid rain and global warming are two major concerns.
One of the most potentially threatening problems is global warming. Naturally the earth is surrounded by an atmosphere made of predominately CO2 and H2O. This atmosphere allows solar radiation in and traps some of the outgoing radiative heat causing and average surface temperature of 21ºC.
When fossil fuels are combusted the products are CO2 and H2O. Excess H2O in the atmosphere has no environmental effects. However, increased CO2 levels cause more heat to be trapped in and result in increased surface temperature and hence global warming. This increasing CO2 concentration has shown a rise in temperatures averaging between 0.5-1.0 ºC a year. This increase in surface temperature may cause several ancillary effects on global climate and hydrology affecting human habitat, welfare and ecology.
Prevention of global warming will require changes in technology of energy production. Fossil fuel use should be decreased. On the surface, a conversion to renewable green energy sources would make sense, however investing in renewable energy can be quite controversial. Scientifically not all scientists feel that this environmental decline is due to fossil fuel use. Economically, fossil fuels are currently abundant and obtainable at a minimal cost. They are important contributors to economic development and a conversion to a more environmentally friendly energy source may cause economic problems.
