The Pros and Cons of Fossil Fuels

 The Pros and Cons of Fossil Fuels 

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fossil-fuels-pros-and-cons.html

Arguments in Favor of Fossil Fuels
The main reason behind the immense popularity of fossil fuels, as energy source, is that each of them have a high calorific value. In other words, combustion of fossil fuels generates a large amount of usable energy and are considered as high efficiency fuels. In spite of being such a highly combustible material, fossil fuels are quite stable in nature as compared to many other forms of fuels.

Another advantage is their availability. The fuels can be found quite easily on the surface of the earth. Moreover, the extraction and refining processes are not very time-consuming and hence, the crude form of these fuels can be easily converted for practical purposes.

Almost fifty percent of the power generation plants of the United States utilize coal as the source of fuel. This is because, it is cheap and is a highly reliable source of energy.

As coal can be transported from one place to another without any hassles, it is not necessary to build the power stations close to the location of the coal mines. Whereas, oil and natural gas have one big advantage that they can be carried very easily by the means of pipelines.

Last but not the least, it helps to create job opportunities for people. This is an important aspect of fossil fuels that we cannot afford to ignore. It generates employment for millions of people all across the globe who are involved with processing of the fossil fuels in one way or the other.

Arguments Against Fossil Fuels
When fossil fuels are burned, a large amount of carbon dioxide is released. Carbon dioxide is considered as one of the greenhouse gases. In the atmosphere, it absorbs heat and contributes towards the green house effect. As the percentage of carbon in the atmosphere becomes high, it leads to elevation in the average temperature on the earth. This is known as global warming and it has several adverse effects on our environment.

Another toxic gas released by fossil fuels is sulfur dioxide, which reacts with the moisture present in air to produce sulfuric acid. This leads to acid rain which causes extensive damage to the living as well as nonliving matter on the earth.

The coal mines are full of various harmful gases and they pose a threat to the lives of thousands of miners working in them. Some of the by products obtained during processing of the fossil fuels are highly toxic too. Oil is often transported from one place to another by the means of sea route. During this time, oil spills occur on the ocean surface and that causes severe harm to the marine life.

Due to mining of the coalfields, landscapes spread over large areas is being destroyed and the land surface cannot be used for any other purpose. Search for newer location for oil reserves is an highly expensive process with a very low success rate. As a result, huge amount of money gets wasted in the process.

Fossil fuels are non-renewable source of energy and are being used up very fast. As a result, there will be more demand and less supply of fossil fuels in future. This is likely to increase the price of fossil fuels manifold.

Depletion of these non-renewable sources of energy is taking place at a rapid pace because of the increasing demands of energy, with the modernization of our society. However, the time required for production of fossil fuels is millions of years. So, there is not enough scope to renew the sources of fossil fuels. Therefore, it is high time that we start looking out for some renewable sources of energy that can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels.
 By Bidisha Mukherjee