Fossil energy has been the main source of energy for mankind since the Industrial Revolution, but due to environmental pollution, supply instability, and resource depletion, there are growing calls for alternative energy development. Alternative energies such as nuclear, solar, and wind power are environmentally friendly, but they have technical limitations and require continuous research.
Fossil energy is the energy obtained from burning fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels produces heat energy, which can be utilized in a variety of ways. For example, consider a steam engine. Burning fossil fuels produces heat energy, which is used to heat water to create steam, which is then used to power an engine. The advantage of fossil energy is that it’s easy to get energy from anywhere, without the need for complex installations. For this reason, fossil fuels have been the primary source of energy for humans since the Industrial Revolution. According to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, fossil energy accounts for 82% of total energy consumption. Fossil energy is widely used around the world, and the most common fossil fuels include coal, crude oil, and natural gas.
Coal is a solid form of fossil fuel that is easily extracted from mines and has been used since the early days of the Industrial Revolution. However, due to its solid nature, it requires a separate mode of transportation to transport it, and mined coal contains many impurities. As a result, coal is not very efficient at capturing heat energy during combustion. As technology has been developed to harvest crude oil and natural gas through drilling rigs, crude oil and natural gas have replaced coal as the primary energy source.
Crude oil is a liquid form of fossil fuel. Crude oil is a liquid form of fossil fuel. It exists deep in the ground and requires a separate drilling facility to obtain it. This makes it more expensive to mine than coal. However, due to its liquid nature, crude oil can be transported using refueling facilities such as pipelines without the need for additional transportation, and after refining, it can be produced into a fuel that can be burned with high efficiency to obtain thermal energy. In addition, by-products from the refining process are also utilized in various ways in our daily lives. For example, aspirin is made from a byproduct of refining crude oil.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel in gaseous form. Like crude oil, natural gas is deep in the ground, so it requires drilling facilities and is expensive to extract. However, its gaseous nature allows it to be transported using refueling facilities like pipelines. While natural gas has many similarities to crude oil, the main difference is that it produces fewer pollutants in the process of obtaining energy. This makes natural gas a more environmentally friendly fuel than crude oil, and its use is increasingly widespread.
Fossil energy has been the main source of energy for humankind since the Industrial Revolution, but in recent years, a number of issues have arisen that have increased the need to develop alternative energy sources.
One of the main problems with fossil energy is climate change. Fossil fuels must be burned to obtain fossil energy, and the carbon dioxide produced during this process is blamed for accelerating climate change. Carbon dioxide increases the temperature of the Earth in the same way that the plastic in a greenhouse increases the temperature inside. As a result of climate change, extreme weather events and natural disasters have become more frequent in many parts of the world.
In addition, fossil fuels are concentrated in certain regions, especially the Middle East, which makes their supply unstable. Fossil energy is currently humanity’s most important source of energy, so any disruption in supply could cause global disruption. In fact, two oil waves in 1973 and 1978 caused global chaos when crude oil prices skyrocketed.
Finally, fossil fuels have finite reserves and are nearly impossible to renew. Fossil fuels are resources that have been accumulated over hundreds of millions of years and cannot be expected to be renewed in the short term. Due to global industrialization, fossil fuels are being depleted rapidly, and some predict that they will be exhausted in the coming decades to centuries. This has led to a growing call for cleaner, renewable fuels that are non-polluting, and many countries are working to develop alternative energies that can be supplied in unlimited quantities.
One of the first alternative energies to gain traction is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is energy generated through the nuclear fusion or fission process using uranium as a raw material. Unlike fossil fuels, uranium is evenly distributed around the world, avoiding fuel supply and demand instability like the oil crisis. Nuclear power facilities can also be used semi-permanently once installed and have the advantage of producing fewer pollutants than fossil energy. However, as the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters have shown, an accident at a nuclear power plant and the release of radioactive material can pose a catastrophic threat to humanity and the environment. As a result, there is a growing call to find other energy sources other than nuclear power.
The next most popular alternative energy sources are solar, wind, tidal, and other natural phenomena. Because they harness natural phenomena, their fuel supply is nearly inexhaustible, and once the infrastructure is in place, they can produce energy on a semi-permanent basis at no additional cost. However, because they utilize natural phenomena, they are highly influenced by the climate, and it is necessary to develop technologies that are adapted to the climate conditions of each country. It also has the disadvantage that its energy production capacity is not yet as high as fossil or nuclear energy. Nevertheless, the advantages of being environmentally friendly and not requiring consumable fuels have led to a lot of research around the world.
