Hydroelectricity – using the energy from moving water to generate electricity.Geothermal energy – using the Earth’s internal heat to generate electricity or warm up buildings.Biomass energy – fuel developed from forest debris, manure, scrap lumber, some crops, and other organic material.Wind energy – using wind to generate mechanical power or electricity.The following are examples of renewable energy sources: Solar energy or solar power involves capturing the Sun’s energy and converting it into electricity. Solar energy, on the other hand, is renewable. “Combustion of fossil fuels is a highly exothermic (heat releasing) reaction and produces a huge amount of energy.” Nonrenewable and renewable energy sourcesĪs mentioned above, fossil fuels are nonrenewable energy sources. In the presence of oxygen, they can burn, producing heat (energy), water, and carbon dioxide (CO 2). When the carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen bonds in these fuels break, they release energy.Ĭrude oil, gas, and coal are hydrocarbons, i.e., they are compounds of hydrogen and carbon. We call the energy we get from fossil fuels chemical energy, which is produced as a result of combustion, a chemical reaction. Energy from fossil fuels is chemical energy It will be millions of years in the future before organisms that are alive today turn into fuel that we can use to power our machines, generate electricity, and heat our homes. Fossil fuels that people, businesses, and other entities use today started to form long before dinosaurs existed. It takes several million years for crude oil, natural gas, and coal to develop. “Coal is derived from vegetable matter altered by pressure, whereas crude oil and natural gas are derived from animal and vegetable matter altered by pressure and heat.” The process takes millions of years “Ancient organic remains (fossils) in sediments which over eons became sedimentary rock, giving rise to solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas.” They are unsustainable energy resources.ī has the following definition of fossil fuels: Energy experts, economists, and environmentalists warn that we must find other sources of energy soon because the supply of oil, gas, and coal is finite, i.e., we will run out of them one day. Today, they provide approximately eighty percent of global energy needs. We have been dependent on fossil fuels as a source of energy for a long time. We rely on fossil fuels to run our vehicles, heat our buildings, power manufacturing and industry, and generate electricity. Put simply fossil fuels consist of decayed animals and plants. All life forms such as animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria are organisms. We call them fossil fuels because they are the remains of organisms that were alive a very long time ago, like fossils. Fossil fuels include natural gas, coal, and crude oil (petroleum).
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