The Effects Of Fossil Fuels On The Environment

In the current era, fossil fuel is a necessity in our everyday life, for not only it is used as an energy source, but also due to the high rate of dependability on the fuel itself. The recent drop in oil prices caused an enormous impact on the world economy, especially to the countries that are highly dependent on the fuel industry. The United States also are affected by this situation. One suggestion and a major change, in order to reduce the high dependency on the fossil fuel and to overcome the problems related to the usage of fossil fuel, is to start the wide use of biofuel as the fossil fuel replacement. The impact of this change, and also a huge improvement, not only will help to stabilize the economy, but also can help in reducing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

First, Solar energy is such an environmentally friendly source of energy. Unlike Fossil fuels, it's a renewable. Typical electricity is generated from fossil fuel that will run out one day. Solar energy is a good substitute to replace fossil fuel as the key energy source reason because is solar power is renewable at completely no cost to provide energy infinitely. That’s why it is a great renewable energy source. Using solar powered energy, you will be replacing the power you are using, which discharges carbon gas emissions, with fresh, reusable solar power. You will, be decreasing your carbon footprint and the amount

In the United States, a sustainable society is desired by virtually every citizen, especially the ones informed of the consequences caused by our wanton use of fossil fuels and the detrimental methods used to extract them from the earth. Nevertheless, despite almost universal acceptance of the need to turn away from nonrenewable and polluting energy sources, there are forces preventing that switch. One of those forces is the megalith that is our current energy paradigm, or the existing energy production/consumption infrastructure that we’ve built which runs largely on nonrenewable resources. Yet, as daunting as a transition to a world run on renewable energies like solar, an energy source with significant growth-potential, may seem from a technological and logistical standpoint, it is eminently feasible. The most problematic hurdle the United States faces is, in truth, political stagnation. While intense lobbying efforts from the fossil fuel industry and public utilities don’t help, the gridlock caused by the inherent framework of the U.S. political system is principally to blame for governmental malaise when it comes to investing in green technology. However, with increasing concerns over environmental degradation and impending climate change, progress has been made. The U.S. Department of Energy (USDE) has appointed 25 cities across the country to be part of its “Solar America City” initiative, including Philadelphia. Philadelphia, which aims to become the leading city in

Today we rely on a majority of fossil fuels with a small percentage of solar or wind energy generation to power our comfortable living. With fossil fuels being our primary source of energy, we are releasing things such as lead into the atmosphere to be inhaled; coal has to be mined causing deforestation and additionally causes water contamination from mining water runoff, the same to be said with fracking.

The definition of climate change is “a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.” (Google Dictionary). Due to our dependence on fossil fuels as our main source for energy and our carbon dioxide emissions over decades, climate change has rapidly emerged on Earth. Yet, we still have those who deny any scientific evidence of the effect of the dependence on fossil fuels. Climate change is a threat one should not ignore but want to reverse with the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Amazingly, the amount of enerygy that Sun shines down on the earth in one hour equates to the same amount of energy used by the worlds population in the entire year. Solar power should be used more than fossil fuels beacuse it 's clean and produces no harmful emissions. Easily renewable because it gets its energy from the

Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel available to humans, there is no argument. There is an estimated 3.9 trillion short tons of coal in the USA alone, and that would be only 21% of the entire world's coal (EIA, 2017). That is a massive amount of coal, but no matter how much coal there is, the human race is using it at a rate much faster than the speed at which it can be produced in nature, therefore the resource is bound to be depleted unless current practices are changed. With the current rate at which coal is used in the world, it will only be around for another 50-56 years (Chiras, 2016). Since it will only be around for roughly 50 years, if usage rates continue as they are, it can not be a major energy source for the next 100 years. Not only will coal just simply not last for the next hundred years when used as is, it is also not an environmentally friendly way to produce energy. Coal is the leading air pollutant in the united states with the typical uncontrolled coal plant emitting 3.5 million tons of CO2, 14,100 tons of SO2 per year, 10,300 tons of NOx per year (UCSUSA, 2015). These major air pollutants can result in acid rain, destruction of the ozone layer, and a wide variety of human health problems. Coal also emits many more heavy metals and solid particulates into the air every year. These substances pollute the Earth’s atmosphere and result in many problems. Coal produces a great amount of energy, but it also produces a great amount of pollutants that get released into the atmosphere and the environment, therefore it can not be a major source of energy for the next 100 years or more problems will occur. Aside of air pollution from using coal, the extraction and production of coal has adverse effects on the environment too. Surface mining produces several environmental hazards and releases a large quantity of pollutants through erosion and runoff. When land is stripped away to reveal a coal seam, not only does it destroy habitats and quality land, it increases erosion and causes a substantial amount of the materials and sediment to be carried into nearby streams. In Kentucky for example, where contour strip mines were located, the amount of erosion grew about 372 times the original, .18 tons per

Fossil fuels are a threat to the world because fossil fuels cause carbon dioxide levels to rise in the atmosphere, cause environmentally unsafe compounds to form in the atmosphere, and because global warming caused by the use of fossil fuels leads to rising sea levels. “Fossil fuels are the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world, contributing 3/4 of all carbon, methane and other greenhouse gas emissions” (Seymour, 14). Overall it is adequate to say that it is a major threat to the global environment. Until a global movement for renewable energy or the reduction of fossil fuel is successful, the negative effects of fossil fuels as well as global warming will continue.

In the past nine years there have been major developments in the environmental regulations put forth by the United States government concerning fossil fuels. Petroleum, coal and natural gas have been used as the leading fossil fuels for both transportation and energy production. These fossil fuels are reasonably abundant and easy to extract from the earth; moreover, they are easily transported and combusted for energy. Most of the current infrastructure in place for energy production is designed to burn fossil fuels in order to produce electricity. Burning fossil fuels releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The buildup of carbon dioxide and other gasses from combustion in the atmosphere results in a phenomenon called global warming.

Everyday in U.S., immense amount of fossil fuel is burned. Fossil fuels are fuel formed by natural processes, such as decomposition of buried dead organisms. Fossil fuel release carbon dioxide when they are burned which adds to the greenhouse effect and increases global warming. The way we can help the environment and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide is by replaying fossil fuels with solar and wind sources for electric power generations in the U.S.

Peak oil is the hypothetical point in time when the global production of oil reaches its maximum rate, after which production will gradually decline. Three impacts that ‘peak oil’ will have on the society include the fact that humanity's way of life will be forced to change, products made by oil such as plastic will become rare and the fact that peak oil will have a great impact on food production. Three impacts that ‘peak oil’ will have on the environment include the fact that if oil runs out the world will need another source of energy so they have to dig more to find another source of energy, To extract oil from sandy tar deposits deposits, these places are usually strip-mined—which means the forests and wildlife on the surface are completely cleared away, In the refinement process a lot of fresh water in polluted, turning blue water to

Fossil fuels are necessary for our country to be kept alive. Natural gas, Coal, and oil are very important resources that we use a daily bases to run almost everything you see. Nearly 90% of our country runs of fossil fuels that are non-renewable. The problem with this is that there are cost and effects to using these fossil fuels. Cost of paying for the jobs needed to change these fossil fuels into energy is a very big cost that comes out of every Americans pocket. To pay for these cost we have electricity bills, water bills, gas bills that do not nearly cover the cost to actually make the energy. Some cost we do not notice until it is too late. Fossil fuels have many effects on the health of the general population. When burning fossil

In the last decades energy consumption has come to a time where people started noticing the climate changes and the effect of fossil fuel energy for not only being environmentally destructive, but also causing Global warming (the warming that occurs as a result of increase emissions of greenhouse gases) has become a very big issue worldwide. The fossil fuels (Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas) which is the main sources of the world’s energy sources, is also one of the main causes of the climate change. In addition with some human activities (e.g. through burning fossil fuels), they have contributed immensely to the global warming, which has also affected the climate conditions in the world. The affect of these changes has prompted some people to propose alternative energy like solar panels. According to Abby Gruen, after realizing the issues, the engineers at Bell Laboratories come up with the first useful photovoltaic cell, an alternative to fossil fuel energy but less harmful for the environment and the pocket. Solar panel which uses renewable energy like the sun to light homes heat and produces electricity. Unlike fossil fuel, solar panels is less harmful for the environment. Since it creation few decades ego, just recently solar panel started getting popular in homes in the United States and around the world. When it was invented people were not interested about it, because of the high installation price, however the price has changed dramatically since then. Even though

Fossil fuels have been a big discussion in today’s world due to the pollution they have been causing on the earth. Fossil fuels have been creating energy for the world for so many years. Fossil fuels like oil, natural gas, and coals used every day by almost every American. We use it to travel, to keep us warm, to cook our food, and many other everyday activities, but we don’t know the harm it is doing to the world. Thanks to Media today we are starting to realize the damage fossil fuel is causing on our world. But can we live without the use of fossil fuels, they been around for so long can we move on from their advantages.

Aside from fossil fuel 's long-term non-sustainability, the United States should shift to renewable resources because of the detrimental effects fossil fuels pose to the environment and people. The use of fossil fuels lead to an increase in air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, and even global warming. During fossil fuel combustion, pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides,