What is the Problem with using Fossil Fuels?
Environmental Impacts - Global Warming: by burning fossil fuels for the last 150 years, there was a 25 percent increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere due to all the gases emitted from the burning of fossil fuels to be trapped in our atmosphere. Not only does it emit carbon dioxide, but it also increase the amount of atmospheric methane and nitrous oxide. - As the amount of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide increases, the temperature on the surface of the Earth also increased. According to UNEP, the "global mean temperature has increased by 0.74 degrees of Celsius between 1906 and 2005". The increase of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels emissions will also cause sea-level to rise and glaciers to melt. The melted glaciers have potential to flood populated areas and reduce the amount of biodiversity by destroying natural habitats. - The changing weather pattern could cause an increase in drought in some locations and other extreme weather events. This will affect agriculture production, which will affect the humans because if the crop yield decrease, then there will be less food available and the farmers will not have enough profit. - Air Pollution: Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and hydrocarbons are release through fossil fuels combustion. It also produce particulate, which reduces the air quality. The amount of tropospheric ozone will also increase, leading to more smog. - Carbon Monoxide (a gas formed from incomplete combustion of all fossil fuels) // causes headaches, additional stress on people with hearth disease - Nitrogen Oxides (nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide form during any combustion) // irritate lungs, cause bronchitis and pneumonia - Sulfur Oxides (when sulfur oxides in a fuel) // acid rain, increase amount of industrial smog - Hydrocarbons (a bunch of pollutants containing carbon and hydrogen) // emitted from human-made sources -Particulate (dust, soot, smoke, and etc.) // respiratory irritation, contributes to acid rain - Tropospheric Ozone (ozone in the troposphere; formed when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides combine in the presence of sunlight) // shortness of breath, permanent lung damage, reduce crop yield - Water and Land Pollution: * Water Pollution: production and transportation. Possible oil spills can also contributes to water pollution. Tailing from coal mining. * Land Pollution: After the process of strip mining, the topsoil becomes acidic from materials used to get the coal. Another waste product is the remaining ash after the coal is burnt. - Thermal Pollution: Heat is produce during the combustion of fossil fuels to generate electricity, but most of it goes into the atmosphere. Water is sometimes used as a coolant, so it can also be affected by the heat from the fossil fuels. When water is heated, then aquatic lifeforms will be affected by the changes that it is not used to. Society Impacts People have to go to war for more fossil fuels. As the amount of fossil fuels reduces, the demand increases. If the demand for fossil fuels continue to increase, then there will not be enough available to please everyone. |