Fossil fuels are fuels from natural but non-renewable sources or organic compounds made of hydrogen and carbon that develop through the natural decomposition of plants and animals over thousands of years. Fuels are used in three forms: oil, natural gas, and coal, the most abundant fossil fuel. They are inexpensive, easy to extract, storable, and readily available, but only for about 60 years. A clean renewable source(s) must replace reliance on fossil fuels.
Fossil fuel forms provide us with almost all of our electricity, gasoline and heat in colder climates, the problem is that the Earth’s supply of crude oil is limited and non-renewable. Crude oil takes millions of years to develop under extreme conditions and cannot be synthetically manufactured or recreated. Existing road and gas station infrastructures are literally built around the distribution of oil or gas to automobiles. Due to the immense extent of this system, a replacement fuel must be designed to work with our current fossil fuel-based infrastructure or the cost of an entirely new one becomes a huge financially daunting construction project.
In addition to being nonrenewable and difficult to replace at pumps, fossil fuels are responsible for massive environmental damage. Emissions from cars and planes contribute to global climate change, acid rain, and ozone layer depletion. Since the Middle East has the largest supply of natural fossil fuels, shipping them across the ocean has in the past caused massive oil spills that can have a major detrimental effect on the ocean and animal life.
Our heavy reliance on foreign oil creates a very tense competitive trading environment in which the US has no control over the price of oil or the quantities available. If we don’t run out first, we could re-enter a national fuel crisis if foreign sources refuse to supply or trade with us due to politics. Therefore, the duration of our use of fossil fuels depends on our trade relationships with oil-rich areas such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Iraq. A supply outage has already occurred in the “Middle East Oil Crisis” of the 1970s and next time we must be prepared. Crude oil reserves will last, at best, sixty more years and only half that time if our supply from the Middle East runs out before it is completely depleted. Nuclear power plants are again under construction to keep energy and heat in homes. This generation will see the end of our fossil fuel supply whether we are ready or not. Hopefully together we can safely transition to alternatives instead of panicking when we literally run out of gas.
As awareness rises, children and adults are being encouraged, sometimes through government grants and carpool lanes, to walk, bike or carpool to work or school together to conserve our precious fuel supply. fossils. Thousands of new green jobs are on the creation stage and must be harnessed with innovation and enthusiasm to foster sustainable and renewable fuel sources for future generations.
While environmental education provides incentives for some, others will be encouraged to decrease their use of fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions for monetary reasons. Many insist on a tax on fossil fuels to subsidize clean energy. Kyoto, known informally as the Earth Summit, is an international environmental treaty aimed at achieving global stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The timing of a fossil fuel switch is a number one global issue that is best tackled with rapid action and innovation and with a clean, green future powered by alternative fuel on our minds.