Research Final Draft: Say No To Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels, which include coal, natural gas and oil, are formed from the fossilized remains of ancient plants and animals. They can be called as some kind of ancient solar energy. Now, the whole world is depending on this type of energy. About 95% of the world’s total energy was provided by fossil fuels (Weirauch, Wendy, 1999). However, it is not a good ancient present as we thought. Fossil fuels bring about lots of problems. As the environmental problem has been becoming a more and more concerning thing to us, now it is the time to make changes. Although fossil fuel is widely used in the world in supporting modern life, it should be replaced by renewable energy such as wind, tide, solar energy and geothermal heat because burning fossil fuel causes air pollution, getting fossil fuel will destroy the nature environment, and using renewable energy could reduce the pollution level and provide a better future.

Most of today’s energy is converted from fossil fuel. The process to get energy from them is called “burning” (Rogalski, L., Bęś, A., Warmiński, K., 2008). In fact, burning fossil fuel causes serious air pollution. Greenhouse effect is one of the most environmental concerns caused by burning fossil fuel. Fossil fuel such as coal, oil and gas mainly consist large amount of carbon and hydrogen. Burning is actually chemical reactions between fossil fuel and air’s oxygen. For the most part, the carbon forms carbon dioxide, and hydrogen forms water vapor. These reactions release heat and in other word, the energy. The carbon dioxide that released during the burning process is considered the most prominent contributor to the global warming issue (CDIAC, 2011).

The Earth gets most of its energy, called radiation, from the Sun. This energy is electromagnetic radiation in the form of visible light with small amount of Infrared and ultraviolet. The incoming visible solar energy has a very short wavelength and passes through the atmosphere. It reaches the Earth’s surface unaffected by gases in the atmosphere. The Earth’s surface absorbs part the solar energy and releases some of it back to the atmosphere as infrared radiation, some of which goes back into space. However, some of the infrared radiation emitted by the Earth is absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and sent back towards the Earth’s surface. That radiation warms the Earth’s surface. One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide. It absorbs the infrared radiation emitted by the Earth and re-radiates the energy as heat back towards the Earth, “causing the warming known as the greenhouse effect” (Richmond, Jim, Swindell, Rick, Grimmer, Stell, 1997).

From the date of Industrial Revolution, humans have been adding green house gases in excessive amounts to the atmosphere due to burning fossil fuels. “A large coal burning plant annually burns 3 million tons of coal to produce 11 million tons of carbon dioxide” (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990). These gases increase the greenhouse effect and resulting in the well known phenomenon as “global warming.” The increase in greenhouse gases has the potential to cause catastrophic problems for Earth and the lives on it (Stefan Lovgren, 2004).

The main problems of warm weather are droughts and floods. As temperatures rise and more water evaporates from the oceans, violent storm activity will increase. On coasts, this evaporated water will create more powerful hurricanes, pacific typhoons and increased frequency of storms and tornadoes. These storms often results in flooding. On land, the faster evaporation is also a problem. Many dry areas such as American West, Southern Africa, and Australia will suffer from more droughts. The amount of land on the Earth suffering from drought conditions has doubled since 1970. This has occurred even as total global rainfall has increased by an estimated 10% (Stefan Lovgren, 2004). The climate changes from greenhouse effect will also have impact to ecosystems, agriculture, and the spread of disease. An international study published in the science journal Nature in 2004 predicted that the change in climate could drive more than a million species towards extinction by the year 2050 (John Roach, 2004).

The green house effect warms the Earth that will affect the whole world. So does the North Pole. The ice cap of North Pole will melt and decrease in area. This is another great concern of burning fossil fuel. As a result of melting in ice cap, the released extra water will drive into oceans and this will cause sea levels to rise dramatically. Many scientists believe that if the temperature rises by 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit), the Greenland’s ice sheet will begin to melt. As the temperature keeps going up, a partial melting would cause a one-meter (3 feet) rise of sea level (Hanna, Edward, et al,. 2008). The rise would have a devastating impact on low-lying island countries. For example, the Indian Ocean’s Maldives would be entirely submerged. Densely populated areas such as the Nile Delta and parts of Bangladesh would become uninhabitable, potentially driving hundreds of millions of people from their land. A one-meter sea level rise would make serious damages on the Gulf Coast and eastern seaboard of the United States. Every U.S. East Coast city from Boston to Miami would be swamped. A one-meter sea rise in New Orleans would mean no more Mardi Gras. Those are just the consequences for one-meter sea level rise, and the complete melting of Greenland would raise sea levels by 7 meters (23 feet) (Hanna, Edward, et al,. 2008).

In addition to produce carbon dioxide and water vapor, burning fossil fuels has other harmful productions. Coal and oil usually contain 0.5% to 3% amounts of sulfur by weight. “In the burning process, sulfur combines with oxygen in the air will form sulfur dioxide, which is the most important contributor to acid rain. Air consists of a mixture of oxygen (20%) and nitrogen (79%), and at very high temperatures molecules of these can combine to produce nitrogen oxides, the other important cause of acid rain” (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990). “Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides with chemical reactions in the atmosphere will become sulfuric acid and nitric acid, respectively, and dissolved in water droplets that eventually may fall to the ground as rain” (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990). This rain is called acid rain.

Acid rain is harmful for plants but it kills trees in the indirect way. It weakens trees by destroying their leaves, reducing the nutrients that trees could take, and poisoning trees by toxic substances it creates in the soil (EPA, 2007). “Mostly, injury or death of trees is a result of these effects of acid rain in combination with one or more additional threats” (EPA, 2007). Acid rain also destroys other plants by in this way. Agriculture might be the worst victim of acid rain because acid rain makes crop have less photosynthesis by destroying their leaves so they could not grow big enough (EPA, 2007).

Acid rain also causes water pollution which threatens the lives in water. Acid rains will kill individual fish, reduce fish population in the waterbody and will finally completely eliminate fish species from a waterbody (EPA, 2007). This will definitely decrease the biodiversity. “As acid rain flows through soils in a watershed, aluminum is released from soils into the lakes and streams located in that watershed. As pH in a lake or stream decreases, aluminum levels increase. Both low pH and increased aluminum levels are directly toxic to fish. In addition, low pH and increased aluminum levels cause chronic stress that may not kill individual fish, but leads to lower body weight and smaller size and makes fish less able to compete for food and habitat” (EPA, 2007).

Acid rain and the greenhouse effect have received a lot of media attention and get lots of public concern (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990). However, Burning fossil fuel not only brings about wide range pollution but also causes local air pollution. “When burning fossil fuel, sometimes carbon monoxide, a dangerous gas, is produced instead of carbon dioxide. Thousands of other compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, classified as hydrocarbons or volatile organic compounds are also produced in the burning of fossil fuels. During the burning, some of the carbon remains unburned, and some other materials in coal and oil are not combustible; these come off as very small solid particles, called particulates, which are typically less than one ten thousandth of an inch in diameter, and float around in the air for many days” (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990).

A common term used for particulates that large enough to be visible is smoke (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990). In December 1952, with combination of weather aspects the Big Smoke was happened in London. The pollutants are mostly from the use of coal to form a thick layer of smog over the city and lasted for about 4 days. It is considered the worst air pollution event in the history of the United Kingdom. “Coal contains trace amounts of nearly every element, including toxic metals like beryllium, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, and lead, and these are released in various forms as the coal burns. All of the above pollutants are formed and released directly in the burning process” (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990). “Sometime after their release, nitrogen oxides may combine with hydrocarbons in the presence of sunlight to form ozone, one of the most harmful pollutants. Or other compounds may form, such as PAN, which is best known as the cause of watering eyes in Los Angeles smog” (Los Angeles, 1994).

According to a Cornell University’s study, over 40% of human deaths in the world are caused by pollution and air pollution from smoke and various chemicals kills 3milliom people a year. The pollutant from burning fossil fuel causes many health effects. “Particulates, when inhaled, can scratch or damage the respiratory system, causing acute and chronic respiratory illnesses. Volatile organic compounds include many substances that are known to cause cancer called polycyclic aromatic” (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990). “The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Health and Environmental Research made a multiyear study by a Harvard University research group to evaluate all of the available studies. The conclusion was that air pollution is probably causing about 100,000 deaths annually in the United States. These deaths are mainly from heart and lung disease. In addition the study estimated that air pollution causes about 1,000 cancer deaths per year” (Cohen, L. Bernard, 1990). This in other word means that one out of 30 Americans dies because of air pollution. If people stop burning fossil fuel for energy, that one out 30 will not die.

Fossil fuels are harmful not only when people converting them into energy. Getting fossil fuel also destroy the environment. Fossil fuels are drilled or mined from the subsurface. The drilling or mining process will destroy habits of wild animals. This is mainly because of operation and the solid wastes generated during the drilling or mining process. These wastes may contain petroleum hydrocarbons, metals, naturally occurring radioactive materials, salts and toxic chemicals that have the potential to cause soil pollution and prevent the growth of vegetation. This is the main reason why ANWR is now still forbid for drilling although there is large oil potential (Young, Don, 1995).  Another thing is the oil spill. The latest biggest spill is 2010 BP oil spill. The spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred at a depth of 5,000 feet from the seafloor to surface. It is believed the affects of spill could last for decades (Christine Rachuy, 2010). The oil spill was caused by an explosion at an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill caused many sea animals and birds died. In fact, oil spills at sea re generally much more damaging than those on land because oil spills can spread for hundreds of miles in a thin oil slick. This can kill sea birds, mammals, and shellfishes (Shirish Patil, 2010).

Drilling and mining process not only generated solid wastes but also generated waste water. For mining, according to the department of the interior, vast damage to waterways can be attributed to the extraction of coal. Coal extraction may very well be the leading the source of water pollution today. For drilling, some drilling fluids contain toxic chemicals. Those chemicals could enter the underground water system and pollute the drinking water system (Robbie, 2011). After getting from the subsurface, fossil fuels are transported. Delivering of fossil fuels could pollute environment. Prestige oil spill still affects the wildlife and people in the spill region. In 2002, an oil tanker named Prestige sank near the coast of Galicia, the northwest autonomous community in northwest Spain. The spill polluted thousands of kilometers of coastline of Spanish, French and Portuguese. This oil spill is the largest environmental disaster of both Spain’s and Portugal’s history. The toxic materials were still affecting the ecosystem after 5 years of the spill (Penela-Arenaz et al., 2009). The levels of toxic materials were still high in marine organisms in that area (Viñas et, al., Apr, 2009). The Prestige oil spill is not the only disaster. As early as in March 24, 1989, the well known Exxon Valdez oil spill was occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, which is the biggest oil tank spill in human’s history, created a biology dead zone that nothing could live and the pollutions will not be cleaned for hundreds of years.

         Now the question is raised, what should stuff we use to avoid the pollution and generate the same amount energy we need? The answer is renewable energy. Renewable energies are clean and effective. They are also called green energy. Using them could reduce the pollution level and provide human a better future.

         First of all, using green energy could reduce the demand of fossil fuel. Nowadays more and more electricity are generated from solar, tide or wind energy.. Many countries are working on developing the renewable energy because the reserves of them are almost unlimited and they could supply the energy demand. A recent study shows that 20% or more of U.S. nation’s electricity can be generated by wind energy by now (Marquis et al., 2011). Europe now is planning to build a large solar plant in Africa for supplying the electricity demand of Europe. According to the European Commission’s Institute of Energy, if just 0.3% of the sunlight in Sahara and Middle Eastern deserts was captured, it could provide all of Europe’s energy needs (Connolly, 2009). UK now is seeking energy from ocean. A study shows that the tide wave energy could meet the electricity demand of UK (Bahaj, 2011). And here are large potential of geothermal energy in the northwest of the U.S. which also could reduce the demand of fossil fuel. According to the facts above, there is no doubt that these green energies could reduce or even replace the fossil fuel in the future.

         Secondly, using renewable energy could reduce the pollution. Hybrid cars are a great example of using green energy. Although they still use some fossil fuel, but from the survey, the pollution it emitted are 97% less than the normal gasoline powered cars (Bionomicfuel, 2010). Home electricity use has a large share of energy use (about 3.25 quadrillion BTU, according to EIA) which is about 31% nowadays according to the EIA March 28, 2011 (EIA, 2011). By using solar PV system for home electricity using, this amount of fossil fuel can be saved which in other word this amount of the pollution that fossil fuel brings about will be reduced.

         Thirdly, using renewable energy could provide a healthier and cleaner future. Because renewable energies are almost zero CO2 emission, it provides a solution to the problem of global warming. Sustainability has become more and more important. People must consider for the future generations. Since most renewable energies make little or no pollution, using these energies will not destroy the habits of wildlife, create dead zones, or lead to global warming. They will provide us a better future for future generations.

         As all the facts shows people should get rid of fossil fuels, not for the high oil price but for saving the planet, it is the time to make changes. Although people still need energy to maintain their modern lives, people can use renewable energy instead. Renewable energies are far better, because they are more environmental friendly than fossil fuel. People should think about the future generations and keep the planet sustainable. Renewable energy is the future.

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