Why fossil fuels are bad

The same is also largely true for natural gas. The large-scale use of fossil fuels tops the list of factors contributing to climate change. But the concentrated energy that they provide has proven hard to replace.

To deal with the challenge of climate change, we must start by understanding the fossil fuel system — namely how energy is produced and used. Although fossil fuel companies are politically powerful, in the United States and around the world, their lobbying prowess is not the key reason that their fuels dominate the global energy system.

Likewise, the transition to an all-renewable energy system is not a simple task. There is plenty of blame to go around, from fossil fuel companies that for years denied the problem to policymakers reluctant to enact the policies needed to force real change.

It has been easier for everyone to stick with the status quo. The world needs technology and strong policy to move in a new direction. With greater understanding of the climate challenge, we are making huge strides in developing the technology we need to move toward a low-carbon future. Still, understanding how we got here and why the modern world was built on fossil fuels is crucial to understanding where we go from here.

Plants convert solar energy into biomass through the process of photosynthesis. People burned this biomass for heat and light. Plants provided food for people and animals, which, in turn, used their muscle power to do work. Even as humans learned to smelt metals and make glass, they fueled the process with charcoal made from wood.

Apart from photosynthesis, humans made some use of wind and water power, also ultimately fueled by the sun. Temperature differences in the atmosphere brought about by sunlight drive the wind, and the cycle of rainfall and flowing water also gets its energy from sunlight. But the sun is at the center of this system, and people could only use the energy that the sun provided in real time, mostly from plants.

This balance between human energy use and sunlight sounds like utopia, but as the human population grew and became more urban, the bio-based energy system brought problems. In England, wood became scarce in the s and s, since it was not only used for fuel, but also for building material. London, for instance, grew from 60, people in to , in , and the price of firewood and lumber rose faster than any other commodity.

The once lush forests of England were denuded. In , roughly 50, horses pulled cabs and buses around the streets of London, not including carts to transport goods.

As you can imagine, this created an enormous amount of waste. All this manure also attracted flies, which spread disease.

The transportation system was literally making people sick. The pre-fossil era was not the utopia we envision. Fossil fuels opened new doors for humanity. The resulting fuels freed humanity from its reliance on photosynthesis and current biomass production as its primary energy source. First coal, then oil and natural gas allowed rapid growth in industrial processes, agriculture, and transportation. The world today is unrecognizable from that of the early 19th century, before fossil fuels came into wide use.

Human health and welfare have improved markedly, and the global population has increased from 1 billion in to almost 8 billion today. The fossil fuel energy system is the lifeblood of the modern economy. Fossil fuels powered the industrial revolution, pulled millions out of poverty, and shaped the modern world. The first big energy transition was from wood and charcoal to coal, beginning in the iron industry in the early s.

Coal has three times the energy density by weight of dry wood and is widely distributed throughout the world. Coal became the preferred fuel for ships and locomotives, allowing them to dedicate less space to fuel storage. Oil was the next major energy source to emerge. Americans date the beginning of the oil era to the first commercial U. Oil entered the market as a replacement for whale oil for lighting, with gasoline produced as a by-product of kerosene production.

However, oil found its true calling in the transportation sector. The oil era really took off with the introduction of the Ford Model-T in and the boom in personal transportation after World War II. Oil resources are not as extensively distributed worldwide as coal, but oil has crucial advantages. Fuels produced from oil are nearly ideal for transportation. They are energy-dense, averaging twice the energy content of coal, by weight.

But more importantly, they are liquid rather than solid, allowing the development of the internal combustion engine that drives transportation today. Oil changed the course of history. For example, the British and American navies switched from coal to oil prior to World War I, allowing their ships to go further than coal-fired German ships before refueling.

Oil also allowed greater speed at sea and could be moved to boilers by pipe instead of manpower, both clear advantages. Carbon emissions trap heat in the atmosphere and lead to climate change. In the United States, the burning of fossil fuels, particularly for the power and transportation sectors , accounts for about three-quarters of our carbon emissions. Fossil fuels emit more than just carbon dioxide when burned. Coal-fired power plants singlehandedly generate 42 percent of dangerous mercury emissions in the United States, as well as two-thirds of U.

Meanwhile, fossil fuel—powered cars, trucks, and boats are the main contributors of poisonous carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide , which produces smog and respiratory illnesses on hot days.

Our seas absorb as much as a quarter of all man-made carbon emissions. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution and our coal-burning ways , the ocean has become 30 percent more acidic. As the acidity in our waters goes up, the amount of calcium carbonate—a substance used by oysters, lobsters, and countless other marine organisms to form shells—goes down.

This can slow growth rates, weaken shells, and imperil entire food chains. Ocean acidification impacts coastal communities as well. State and federal incentives, along with falling prices, are pushing our nation —and the world —toward cleaner, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

Renewables are on track to become a cheaper source of energy than fossil fuels, which is spurring a boom in clean energy development and jobs. Significantly higher levels of renewables can be integrated into our existing grid, though care must be taken to site and build renewable energy responsibly.

It accounts for more than 2. If we can put the right policies in place, we are poised to make dramatic progress toward a clean energy future. To do that, we will need to cut energy demand in half, grow renewable energy resources so that they provide at least 80 percent of our power, electrify almost all forms of transportation, and get fossil fuels out of our buildings. That will require sustained, coordinated policy efforts from all levels of government, the private sector, and local communities.

But we know we can do it using the proven, demonstrated clean energy technologies that we have today. Distrust in the TVA runs deep in eastern Tennessee, and as the utility shutters two power plants—Bull Run and Kingston—local activists fear it will close up shop without safely containing its leaky pits of toxic sludge and ash.

Limetree Bay oil refinery recently announced its indefinite closure. The global toll of premature deaths attributed to the burning of coal, gasoline, and diesel is breathtakingly high, with new research doubling previous estimates. As the country focuses on fighting a pandemic and mourning its victims, the Trump administration sees a perfect time for showering the fossil fuel industry with gifts. Oil and gas operations leak this potent greenhouse gas far more than previously thought, and par for the course the Trump administration is making the situation worse.

Like virtually all environmental scholars, we consider global warming to be an urgent and existential threat. We recognize that replacing fossil-fuel infrastructure is an enormous endeavor. But the latest National Climate Assessment , a federal report predicting dire consequences from global warming, showed how ignoring this problem could cost more in the long term. Based on our research, we believe that phasing out fossil fuels can improve public health, enhance human rights and empower communities politically.

Moreover, a Green New Deal has the potential to create many jobs and enhance global stability. As the debate about the Green New Deal takes shape, we hope that more lawmakers will recognize that above and beyond the benefits of a more stable climate, phasing out fossil fuels as soon as possible would also improve the lives of many vulnerable communities in the U. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Channels: Close.

The Flint Hills Resources oil refinery, near downtown Houston. Phillip Many Democratic lawmakers aim to pass a Green New Deal , a package of policies that would mobilize vast amounts of money to create new jobs and address inequality while fighting climate change. Sacrifice zones While conducting our research, we constantly encounter new evidence that depending on fossil fuels for energy harms people and communities at every point along fossil fuel supply chains, especially where coal, oil and natural gas are extracted.

Pumpjacks dot the Kern River oil field outside Bakersfield, Calif. Natural gas As coal plants shut down, more natural gas is being burned. Coal Out of all the fossil fuels, coal is the worst offender. Is wood a fossil fuel? Is nuclear energy a fossil fuel?

What are fossil fuels used for? Fossil fuels are burned to release the natural energy stored inside. How much carbon dioxide is produced when different fossil fuels are burned? Coal anthracite : They disrupt the environment Extracting fossil fuels through mining, drilling and fracking destroys natural habitats. They cause pollution Fossil fuels pollute our water and the atmosphere. Do we use fossil fuels to generate electricity in the UK?

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