article on fossil fuels
Answers
Answer: What Are Fossil Fuels?
Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Because of their origins, fossil fuels have a high carbon content.
Examples of Fossil Fuels
Oil
Crude oil, or petroleum (literally “rock oil” in Latin), is a liquid fossil fuel made up mostly of hydrocarbons (hydrogen and carbon compounds). Oil can be found in underground reservoirs; in the cracks, crevices, and pores of sedimentary rock; or in tar sands near the earth’s surface. It’s accessed by drilling, on land or at sea, or by strip mining in the case of tar sands oil and oil shale. Once extracted, oil is transported to refineries via supertanker, train, truck, or pipeline to be transformed into usable fuels such as gasoline, propane, kerosene, and jet fuel—as well as products such as plastics and paint.
Petroleum products supply about 37 percent of U.S. energy needs, with the transportation sector consuming the most. U.S. oil consumption in 2016 was 10 percent below the record high of 2005 and only 3 percent higher than during the 1973–74 embargo by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)—despite the U.S. economy tripling in size in the decades since. However, oil use has increased modestly for the past four years, as relatively low gasoline prices have fueled a rise in vehicle miles traveled and renewed interest in SUVs and light trucks. Still, U.S. consumption of petroleum products is forecast to decrease, at least through 2035, as fuel efficiency standards lead to cleaner-running vehicles. Continued strengthening of clean car and fuel economy standards remains critical for reducing oil consumption.
On the production side, the United States has experienced a decadelong upswing. Production growth is due in large part to improvements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, technologies that have created a boom in U.S. shale oil and natural gas extraction. While horizontal drilling enables producers to drill down and outward—thus reaching more oil or gas from a single well—hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking) is designed to extract oil or natural gas from the unyielding rock, including shale and other formations. Fracking involves blasting huge quantities of water mixed with chemicals and sand deep into a well, at pressures high enough to fracture rock and enable the oil or gas to escape. This controversial method of extraction creates a host of environmental and health problems, including air and water pollution.
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Answer:
For more than a century, burning fossil fuels has generated most of the energy required to propel our cars, power our businesses, and keep the lights on in our homes. Even today, oil, coal, and gas provide for about 80 percent of our energy needs.
And we’re paying the price. Using fossil fuels for energy has exacted an enormous toll on humanity and the environment—from air and water pollution to global warming. That’s beyond all the negative impacts from petroleum-based products such as plastics and chemicals.