Fossil Fuels - a Finite Source of Energy

At the present time, most of the energy consumed worldwide is produced from burning fossil fuels -- oil, coal, natural gas and petroleum. Although the world economy is dependent on this energy source, extracting and using fossil fuels raises serious environmental concerns.

When fossil fuels are burned they release harmful compounds into the air. These compounds are dangerous to humans, animals, plants, and entire ecosystems. Carbon dioxide is also released into the atmosphere. This is believed to cause global warming – an effect which can have enormous consequences to world climates.

Fossil fuels are very expensive and labor intensive to extract and bring to market. This has led to ever-increasing prices. At the same time, it has forced us find ways to use fossil fuels more efficiently. Just think of the automobile – just 20 years ago most cars would get about 10 miles to the gallon. Today modern cars can go 40 to 50 miles on that same gallon.

Fossil fuels are a finite source of energy – once they are used up we cannot make any more. As fuel prices rise, however, it becomes economically feasible to extract set up extraction facilities in areas which previously had been too expensive to exploit. This situation has led to the belief that fossil fuels can continue to drive the economy for hundreds of years to come. Still the because it is a finite source of energy sooner or later the reserves we have will run out.

The increased demand of rapidly growing economies like China and India are a concern. It's a big question if and how our ecosystem and climate can sustain such a huge increase the burning of fossil fuels.

Even if we can continue to rely on fossil fuels for future energy needs, almost everyone from governments to environmentalists to scientists are trying to find alternative sources of energy. We already are able to produce significant amounts of electricity from solar panels and wind turbines. Other sources include tidal power and solar heating.

These alternative energy sources are slowly gaining a foothold. They are becoming more popular on both economic and ecological fronts. Fossil fuels will eventually become too expensive to support and the environment will benefit from the widespread use of clean solar and wind power. And perhaps energy sources we can not envision yet.

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