Fossil fuels are an unsustainable resource; formed from the decay of plants and animals over millions of years, our planet has a finite number of deposits.
Fuel reserves are also disproportionately distributed throughout the globe: the United States contains one-quarter of the world's coal reserves, while five countries in the Middle East contain approximately 60 percent of the world's oil.
Fossil fuel alternatives, including hydropower, solar power, and biofuels, each have their own set of social and environmental consequences, both positive and negative (discussions of which are beyond the scope of this summary), but unlike fossil fuels, do provide opportunities for sustainable energy.
Fossil fuel is a general term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years.
With global modernization in the 20th and 21st centuries, the thirst for energy from fossil fuels, especially gasoline derived from oil, is one of the causes of major regional and global conflicts.
The burning of fossil fuels by humans is the largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases that allows radiative forcing and contributes to global warming.
Fossil fuels, which include petroleum, coal, and natural gas, provide most of the energy that powers modern industrial society.
Chemically, fossil fuels consist largely of hydrocarbons, which are compounds composed of hydrogen and carbon.
Fossil fuels formed from ancient organisms that died and were buried under layers of accumulating sediment.
A fossil fuel power plant is an energy conversion center that combusts fossil fuels to produce electricity, designed on a large scale for continuous operation.
In contrast, in a fossil fuel power plant, the chemical energy stored in fossil fuels such as coal, fuel oil, or natural gas is converted successively into thermal energy, mechanical energy, and finally electrical energy for continuous use and distribution across a wide geographic area.
Almost all large fossil fuel power plants are steam-electric power plants, except for gas turbines and utility-sized reciprocating engines, which may run on natural gas or diesel.
Fossil fuels, also known as mineral fuels, are hydrocarbon-containing natural resources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas.
The utilization of fossil fuels has fueled industrial development and largely supplanted water driven mills, as well as the burning of wood or peat for heat.
The burning of fossil fuels by humans is their major source of emissions of carbon dioxide which is one of the greenhouse gases that is believed to contribute to global warming.
Because it has taken literally millions of years for most fossil fuel deposits to develop, and because they were formed during periods of intense vegetative development that differ from current conditions, these deposits, like metals, are finite and effectively non-renewable.
Clearly, the exploration, development and use of fossil fuels conflicts in many ways with other, potentially sustainable economic activities that are based on renewable resources such as farming, fishing, forestry and tourism.
There are alternatives to fossil fuels and their associated petrochemicals that are more earth-friendly and that still allow for jobs and economic activity.
Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are used to generate approximately 85% of all energy produced in the U.S. The U.S. burns an enormous amount of fossil fuel in order to maintain its incredible rate of energy consumption.
Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are used to generate approximately 85% of all energy used in the U.S. As you probably know, the excessive rate of fossil fuel consumption causes significant damage to the environment.
Large amounts of fossil fuel are required to power heavy farming machinery, to process foods, to refrigerate foods during transportation, to produce packaging materials, and to manufacture and transport chemical inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides.
Coal, oil and gas are called fossil fuels because they form over millions of years through the decay, burial and compaction of rotting vegetation on land (coal), and marine organisms on the sea floor (oil and gas).
Burning fossil fuels in this way releases a number of air pollutants, including sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and VOCs, such as hydrocarbons, which can all lead to poorer air quality.
The present global use of natural gas is approximately 20% of all fossil fuel use, and this figure is predicted to rise in the future.
Consumption of fossil fuels is the dominant source (>99%) of greenhouse gases in Rhode Island.
The dip in distillate fuel use in the residential sector in 1990 (14.9 TBTUs, compared to an eleven-year average of 18.6) seems to be the result of an abnormally low number of heating-degree days for that year.
Because of the dominance of the inventory by emissions from fossil fuel combustion, we have prepared a variety of figures, showing the various combinations of fuel types and emissions sources.
Fossil fuels are made up of oil, natural gas, and coal.
Fossil fuels have an effect on the global environment.
While fossil fuels help power the world, they are a serious issue that are not always taken as serious as they should be.
Fossil are the remains of ancient plant and life found in earth, rock, and clay.
Fossil fuels are mined by people for use as an energy source.
Fossil fuel energy is stored energy which is given off when the fuel is burned.
Combustible material, such as coal, lignite, oil, peat, and natural gas, formed from the fossilized remains of plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.
Such fuels are non-renewable resources  once they are burnt, they cannot be replaced.
Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons (they contain atoms of carbon and hydrogen).
The reason they are called fossil fuels is because they are all made from decayed plants and animals that have been preserved in the earth's crust by pressure, bacterial processes and heat.
Liquid fossil fuels, like petroleum, is formed in areas that geologists believe were once covered by oceans or seas.
These fuels were formed when dead plants and animals sank to the bottom of the ocean and were covered by sediments.
A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device that converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and heat.
A fuel cell consists of two electrodes, an anode and a cathode, separated by an electrolyte.
Fuel cells are quiet, efficient, and have low emissions but are still relatively expensive.
There are three major forms of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas.
But the main deposits of fossil fuels are from the Carboniferous Period.
We are using up the fuels that were made more than 300 million years ago before the time of the dinosaurs.
Fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, are a non-renewable source of energy.
Fossil fuels are excellent sources of energy for out transportation needs; however they are also the primary source of electrical energy in the world today.
Fossil fuels are the lifeblood of our society and for many others around the world.
To begin, the fossil fuel is not yet discovered, and therefore the consumption rate is zero.
Then the fuel is discovered and consumed at an increasing rate as the fuel achieves widespread use and as the will and the technology to discover more of the fuel increases.
Because modern society depends on the fossil fuels, it is of great interest to gain a feel for the “lifetime” of the fossil fuels -- that is, the number of years it will take to consume the known reserves of each kind of fossil fuel.
Increase in Consumption of Fossil Fuels in Missouri, 1990-1999.
An alternative to Missouris heavy reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels is to switch to renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy and biomass.
The blue segment on the pie chart indicates fossil fuels used for transportation in 1999.
Fossil fuels &#8211; coal, oil and natural gas -- currently provide more than 85% of all the energy consumed in the United States, nearly two-thirds of our electricity, and virtually all of our transportation fuels.
Moreover, it is likely that the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels to power an expanding economy will actually increase over at least the next two decades even with aggressive development and deployment of new renewable and nuclear technologies.
Energy’s Fossil Energy program, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory, is developing a full array of new technologies that can locate and produce oil and gas beyond the reach of today’s technologies, overcome the environmental challenges of using coal, and extract clean-burning hydrogen from fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are used to generate approximately 85% of the total U.S. energy consumption.
Given the damage to human health and the environment caused by the use of fossil fuels, it is clearly in our best interest to reduce our consumption of this source of energy whenever possible.
Fossil fuels currently account for about 90 percent of world energy consumption.
Fossil fuels are currently the most economically exploitable sources of power for both personal and commercial use.
In particular, in the process of burning fossil fuels compounds are emitted into the air which can cause harm to humans, plants, animals, and whole ecosystems.
Cutting government support for fossil fuels is a common sense idea supported by economists, climate scientists, international organizations, and free-market activists.
The fossil fuel industry is no longer an infant enterprise that can argue for government nurturing, but a mature industry that does not deserve government handouts.
Regardless of the outcome of the Kyoto Treaty, it violates common sense for federal taxpayers to continue subsidizing the consumption of fossil fuels.
Fossil fuel combustion (FFC) wastes are the wastes produced from the burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, natural gas).
EPA concludes that the remaining fossil fuel combustion wastes do not warrant regulation as hazardous waste under Subtitle C of RCRA and is retaining the hazardous waste exemption for these wastes.
Wastes from the combustion of fossil fuels are included as one of the six special wastes.
He is responsible for carrying out performance tests and analyses of power plant equipment, providing engineering services for plant betterment projects, troubleshooting plant operational problems, developing and implementing operator training and qualification programs, and instructing plant personnel in thermal performance improvement.
This included the fuel, water, and steam systems; the steam turbine; and associated electrical components, including emergency responses.
This included the fuel, water and steam systems, as well as the steam turbine and associated electrical components.
Anyone who tells you oil is a fossil fuel and a finite resource obvioulsy hasn't talked to an oil man lately..
The term "fossil fuel" does not necessarily mean that all oil comes from deposits of dead animals and plants, but that the primary source is hydrocarbon deposits.
It would indeed be good news to find out the the "fossil" fuels are self replenishing, but that still means that we need to a) drill more wells and b) continue to apply current technology to get more from existing wells just ot keep up with projected demand.
Formed at the beginning of the fossil fuel age more than a century ago, Americas energy policy has not strayed far from its fossil-fuel burning roots.
But importing fossil fuels is bad for the environment, risky for national security, and cannot be sustained.
By heaping subsidies on fossil fuel technologies at the expense of renewable energy, America risks losing jobs and a niche in this rapidly growing industry.
Oil was formed from the remains of animals and plants that lived millions of years ago in a marine (water) environment before the dinosaurs.
When petroleum products are burned as fuel, they give off carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is linked with global warming.
These "reformulated fuels" are much cleaner-burning than gasoline and diesel fuel were in 1990.