Why are Fossil Fuels the most Important Energy Source?

PrintEmailSave

Main Image: 

The phrase “fossil fuels” comes from fuels that are extracted from fossils such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. There are a few other subcategories that fall under this. All the carbon rich substances that are used as sources of energy can be called fossil fuels. Fossil fuels were formed from the dead and decaying remains of prehistoric living organisms  millions of years ago. Intense heat and pressure inside the different layers of earth transformed these dead remains into modern day's fossil fuel reserves. The fossil fuels are energy rich carbon compounds and hycrocarbons such as coal, natural gas and petroleum. The  technological advances in the 20th century made possible the extraction of fossil fuels from the earth commercially viable. All our modern transportation and  industry development process have been made possible because of the discovery and extraction of fossil fuels. More than three quarters of the world's energy consumption comes from fossil fuels. Of this approximately, 40% of fossil fuels are used in petroleum form, 15 % in natural gas form and 8 % in coal form. Fossil fuels are the main backbone of the industrialization but they have contributed to the burden of environmental pollution significantly. This has resulted in greehouse gases, acid rain and global climate change. The massive demand for fossil fuels has resulted in depletion of their deposits at an alarming rate. This depletion has made us focus on looking for alternative sources of energy in this century. 

How did the Usage of  Fossil fuels evolve?

The dead and decaying plants started undergoing chemical changes. The first stage of transformation gave rise to a form of coal called peat. Ever since caveman found the use of this peat, they started burning it to generate heat for warming themselves. Asphalt, which happens to be a derivative of petroleum, was used by the Egyptians for the purpose of preserving the remains of the deceased. But commercially the fossils fuels were first used in the 1740s in Virginia. Coal, on the other hand was first discovered in 1701 in Virginia. Coal was one of  the  prime reasons for the  start of the industrial revolution in 1760s. All the power plants were fed by the energy produced from burning coal. Finally natural gas gained importance commercially in the 1785 in Britain. William A. Hart in the year 1825 made a deep well of 27 foot in Fredonia, New York to ensure a steady flow of natural gas. After almost 100 years a more efficient distribution system for natural gases came into existence. At that time there was no good storage system developed. As a result of this most of the natural gases that were obtained got lost. Even petroleum came into limelight in the year 1859 when Edwin L. Drake at Pennsylvania drilled a well of 69 foot and discovered crude oil. From this crude oil kerosene was manufactured, lubricating the machineries and illuminating the lamps. Before this time asphalt and tar were used. Petroleum became very important when the DeSoto expedition survivors used it to make their ships water tight.

How were the different Fossil Fuels formed?

Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy. The present fossil fuel reserves  are limited. Fossil fuels, as the name implies came from fossilized remains of plants and animals that have died millions of years ago and underwent both chemical and physical changes to finally result in the energy rich compounds, that we use to meet most of our energy needs.

• Natural gas formation : Natural gas was formed under tremendous pressure from the numerous layers of earth. The deeper down the earth’s layers you go, you are more likely to find natural gases than crude oil. Microorganisms act upon the dead and decaying creatures to break the organic matter present in their bodies from complex hydrocarbon chains to simpler hydrocarbons called biogenic methane. When heat and pressure act to produce methane it is usually referred as thermogenic methane. Methane is the main component of natural gas but small amounts of ethane, propane and butane are also formed along with traces of nitrogen and oxygen.

• Crude oil formation: Crude oil is mainly formed at a lesser pressure compared to natural gases but there are two theories that explain the formation of Crude Oil. One is the biogenesis theory of crude oil, which  suggests that carbon rich organic matter got deposited along with hydrogen and nitrogen. This organic matter was subjected to high pressure and was released in an environment without oxygen to produce crude oil. The abiogenesis theory suggests that atmospheric methane reached the earth’s layers during rains and after repeated pressure formed crude oil from where petroleum is extracted.

• Coal formation: Coal is believed to be formed from dead plants which got buried millions of years ago beneath sediments. Most of the modern day coal that we obtain is formed from peat which was found in swamps that were created millions of years back. The stagnant water prevented the peat in the swamp from breaking down easily. In fact the vegetable origin of coal can be confirmed by seeing their impressions formed on the surface of the coal when dug out. Lot of water was  squeezed out from the mass during the formation years. Different degrees of pressure and heat gave rise to different forms of coal such as, peat, lignite, anthracite or bitumen.

How are the different Fossil fuels used?

We are highly dependent on fossil fuels for our energy requirement and modes of transportation.

• Coal based power plants : Electricity is one of the essential part of any nation’s economy. Most of the nations are still dependent largely on coal based power plants to meet their energy requirements. A developed country like U.S.A. has 55% of its electricity generated from coal. The remaining percentage is contributed by various other sources of energy combined together. The whole process of generating electricity from coal is rather simple. Coal is first crushed and then put inside a combustion chamber. There the fossil fuel is burnt and it produces heat. This heat is utilized to warm water and produce steam from it. This steam goes and hits a number of turbines which are coupled with electric generators to produce electricity.

• Petroleum or crude oil uses: Petroleum can be used to power the internal combustion engines inside vehicles either in the form of petrol or in the form of gasoline. Long time back this oil was used for the purpose of illumination during wars and for travelling long distances by carrying these brightly illuminated lights. The thickest for of petroleum is called bitumen. This is also used extensively for the paving of roads. The black top that you get to see while making roads is basically bitumen. This form of petroleum also finds use in roofing industry. It comes into use as excellent water repellant. The startling use of petroleum is found in the pharmacy industry. It finds use in the production of aspirin and many other medicines. Even the beer and some of the food stuffs make use of petroleum. For the manufacturing of plastics and other synthetic products petroleum is used at different levels of production. Since it is the main fuel responsible for transportation, directly and indirectly many other industries like food and packaging industries are also dependent on it. The travel industry gets directly threatened when they promise low rates of travel and the petrol prices rise up suddenly. Such is the dependence of various industries on petrol.

• Uses of natural gas: Natural gas is probably the best known source of energy at homes. Using natural gas for cooking is much cheap compared to electricity dependent cooking. It would allow very easy temperature control and self cleaning and ignition properties. Natural gas is also used for heating homes. In U.S.A. 62 million homes go for natural gas for the purpose of heating. Water heating, cooling and space heating are some of the uses of natural gases in commercial areas like schools, hospitals and public buildings. The process is similar to residence heating but takes place at a larger scale. The big factories and industries are the biggest consumers of natural gases. From fabric industries to fertilizer industries, all make use of this economical form of power. Nowadays even for big electric generators natural gases are used as sources of fuel. Due to technological advancements and due to its comparatively clean burning nature, natural gases have gained importance. The large plants that were earlier powered by nuclear resources and coal are now shifting focus to natural gas.

What are the advantages of Fossil fuels?

One of the main advantages of fossil fuels is that they can produce great amount of energy in just a single location. When a coal mine or an oil well is detected, a generation plant can be set up in that region due to the existing infrastructure facilities. Since the supply of coal or petroleum in a selected region or in any potential region is abundant, naturally it proves to be very cost effective. For natural gases or crude oil, the transportation is very simple. From the reserve site to the power station these fluid fossil fuels can be simply transferred bylaying pipes. Transportaion of fossil fuels is also very efficient with rail transport. The power plants that make use of fossil fuels are very efficient compared to other energy source power plants. Even the construction of power plants that are dependent on fossil fuels are easy to set up as it involves simple options of transporting the fossil fuel from the extraction site to the plant.

What kind of impact do Fossil fuels have on the  Environment?

Fossil fuels help the world meet its energy requirements. But the use of these fuels has gone up and the side effects of using fossil fuels is manifesting all over the globe.  By burning of fossil fuels, large amounts of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide produced as a result of fossil fuel burning is the prime cause of global warming and climate change. Coal burning not only produces carbon dioxide like any other fossil fuels, but also produces sulphur dioxide that is responsible for acid rain. Acid rain is mainly responsible for the gradual damaging of some of the famous monuments all over the world like Taj Mahal of India. The whole process of mining fossil fuels causes destruction of the soil and contamination of nearby waterbodies and destruction of both life and the ecosystems. For example, the tar sand mining in Alberta region of Canada has left the Athabasca river basin absolutely devastated and dead. Coal mining also poses threat to the lives of coal miners. The gaseous pollutants release obnoxious odors in and around the plant and damage the lungs. Residents living in and around the plant usually suffer from health problems like cough, nausea and headaches. Crude oil when transported from the region of formation to the plant site in barrels, often suffer from leaks. This causes a tremendous damage to aquatic lives in the sea, and the emissions resulting from crude oil burning are extremely polluting. Not to forget the major oil spills that happen in the ocean killing thousands of marine and bird life. In conclusion, though fossil fuels are a great boon to mankind they have to be used wisely and other alternative cleaner energies have to replace them as indiscriminate use of fossil fuels seems to be destroying our planet and it is time we do something positive to help ourselves and fuuture generations from the negative impact of fossil fuels.

How can we reduce Fossil Fuel Consumption?

Some countries are seriously thinking of replacing fossil fuels with other renewable energy resources just to take a step against environmental pollution. Initial investment of renewable energy plant set up is expensive. But that is not the only problem because even space can be a problem. Australia has estimated the replacement of fossil fuels with solar renewable energy completely. They found that this would involve an area as big as  4000 square kilometers. The  panels occupying an area of 200 km square which is almost 4 times the average area of a roof are installed which actually meets the need of one person.Until further advancement in the photcells that are used to process the sunlight comes about, solar energy is still  a long distance away to be used on a regular basis. For many such reasons a complete dependence on renewable energy is still not a viable option. The largest oil producer that is Saudi Arabia is not being able to reach its target production output and its most efficient oil producing oil wells are coming to an end. Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy and its fast depletion and energy crisis have made the world think seriously. Not only its judicious use and preservation are important but it is of utmost importance that complete dependence on fossil fuels be reduced now. But the answer is not any one single source of renewable energy, like solar, or wind. Hybrid system designs should be encouraged combining two or more renewable energy sources or a combination of renewable energy sources and fossil fuels. Due to its fast depletion the prices of fossil fuels have soared up worldwide. As a result of this other dependent industries such as food transportation, air transportation are also forced to increase their prices which further percolates into eveything else thus increasing the cost of living. Judicious use of fossil fuels is of utmost importance. There are many industries that are directly and indirectly dependent on it. If we deplete fossil fuels ruthlessly then gradually all the other industries would also suffer a heavy setback which will affect us adversely in the long run.

Additional Reading

Consumption of Fossil Fuels

Energy Policy Act Of US, 2005

Environment Literacy Council

Energy Solutions for the 21st Century

 

Related Videos: 

Related Images: