Impact Of Fossil Fuels On Climate Change

Fossil Fuel Research Paper

Directions: Write a 5 paragraph essay on Climate change. Be sure to add the bibliography at the end. Important tip…. The bibliography should be put into alphabetical order. Erase these purple words before submitting.

Fossil fuels, most used for energy has a dark secret. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable that come from dead ancient plants and animals from millions of years ago. They are used for to burn energy so people are able to have luxuries such as powering their cars, powering businesses, and having light in our houses. These fossil fuels are nonrenewable because they are not easily to be replenished and it will take millions of years for these resources to form again. There are three main fossil fuels humans use on a day to day basis, coal, oil, and natural gas. These fossil fuels are about 80% of our energy needs. Coal is a fossil fuel that is a black blackish brown sedimentary rock saturated with carbon and hydrocarbon. Coal is formed when dead plants millions of years ago located in a swamp got crushed from the heat and pressure of more land forming on top. Coal’s energy is from the energy stored from the plants who lived in the swamp Oil, another fossil fuel is formed from crushed tiny plants and animals in the bottom of the ocean getting trapped under layers of sediment and mud. Heat and pressure of these marine organisms turn into what is the oil we have today. The final fossil fuel, natural gas is formed from a long process. Natural gas is made when first, dead microorganisms at the bottom of the sea are covered mud silt and sand. Then the immense amount of heat and pressure converted them into hydrocarbons and natural gas is the lightest form of these hydrocarbons.

These fossil fuels are used worldwide. The country that uses the most coal is China. China heavily relies on coal for 70% of their energy is from this nonrenewable resource. The US also uses the most oil in the world, in 2012 the US used 18.5 million barrels of oil per day. The 18.5 million barrels of oil per day is considered to be 20% of the world’s total oil usage per day. USA and Russia are the top countries who consume the most amount of oil. USA is in first place with Russia following second but their numbers are significantly higher than all the other places. The USA uses 773,200,000 thousand cubic meters of oil and Russia uses 453,300,000 meters of oil. People use fossil fuels because it’s cheap, easy to get, and it gives energy to give us power for our comforts.

Coal, oil, and natural gas have to come from somewhere. There are reserves of these fossil fuels where people definitely know is a place where they can collect these fossil fuels. Coal can be found anywhere in the world. USA, Russia, China, and India have the biggest reserves. The price of coal is for Lignite coal it costs $13.64 in dollars per short ton. The reserves of oil are Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Canada. As of November 14 2019 oil is $56.77 per barrel. The reserves for natural gas are Russia, Iran, Qatar, Turkmenistan, USA, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Algeria. Natural gas in an average-sized home in New England costs $983. The top three producers of coal are China, India, and Us. Next, the top three producers of oil are Saudi Arabia, Russia, and America. Finally, the US, Russia, and Iran are the top producers of natural gas.

Fossil fuels may be the best source of power to rely on but it comes with extreme amounts of damage. When you burn coal air pollution happens such as mercury being in the air. 42 percent of mercury emissions in the US comes from coal plants. Mercury is a very dangerous chemical to mess around with, can negatively affect people’s nervous, digestive, and immune systems. Mercury is even a big threat in child development. Sulfur dioxide can even appear when sulfur from the coal mixes with oxygen. Sulfur or SO2 is connected to asthma, bronchitis, smoke, and acid rain. Burning oil causes large unbelievable dramatic changes to our Earth. One of the effects are decreased air quality which is from the smoke of the oil burning ending up in the Ozone layer. Ozone layer is the layer that prevents people from having even worse sun radiation. During the process of burning oil, the oil can conbust which forms sulfur like with the coal. Being overexposed to this toxin can cause even more severe problems such as heart problems and potentially death. The burning of oil can also cause acid rain which damages water life, forest, soil vegetation, and structures. However, burning natural oil is a lot cleaner than the other three fossil fuels. It only produces sulfur, mercury, and particulates in amounts so small it doesn’t even matter. Natural gas still has its drawbacks. It causes smog and the practice of getting natural gas, called fracking can cause potential water pollution and earthquakes. The burning of fossil fuels have increased temperatures over the past century. From the data from my graphing activity the average temperature in 1900 was 13.8 °C. Then in the next decade in the year 2017 the average temp was 14.9 °C. There was an increase in temperature by 1.1 °C. This is concerning because it shows that global warming is a real thing that is taking place. When the temperatures are rising this means climate change will take place. The effects are climate change are the ice caps melting, the sea levels rising, widespread weather, and extreme flooding.

Even though coal, oil, and natural gas are the main resources we use for power there are renewable resources that are much better for the environment. If more people use these renewable resources then we can slow down climate change and move a step forward for a greener environment. Renewable energy is energy that can be replenished and made again on the human timescale Won’t take million of years to form like nonrenewable resources coal, oil, and natural gas. 3 types of renewable energy are hydroelectric, wind, and solar. Sadly, there are concerns for newable energy. Dams which is where hydroelectric is used can cause environmental concern. Power is limited to where it can be, it can only be where there is water. The concerns for energy from wind is that it works when there is wind blowing. When there is no wind there is no energy. Birds can run into windmills and die and these windmills take up a lot of land. Solar power relies on sunlight for energy which means when it’s a cloudy day or if it’s nighttime there is no power. I can make a difference to this world by eating less beef, take cold showers, and buy local, seasonal food. Eating less beef will make a difference because to get beef, farmers need 28 times the land than chicken or chicken, and 11 times the water. It takes a lot of fuel, energy and environmental impacts to get that stay on your plate. Therefore, limiting the amount of beef I eat will save a lot of energy. Next, I will take cold showers because energy is required to heat the water for a warm shower. That means taking a cold shower will conserve energy too. Finally, buying seasonal food will benefit the environment because it takes absurd amounts of heat and water for farmers to produce fruits and vegetables that aren’t in season. When you eat seasonal food it decreases the damaging effects of creating more unseasonal food. Everyone can make a change in this world no matter how small because if we all put our effort towards making a change it will make a big, positive impact.