Today we’re going to find out where our electricity comes from - most of our electricity comes from power plants, and most of these power plants burn substances known as “fossil fuels” to produce electricity. In fact, fossil fuels provide up to 80% of all the world’s energy. Now, you’ve probably heard that fossil fuels emit lots of CO2 into the atmosphere and are bad for the environment. But why exactly are fossil fuels so bad?
First let’s get to know the fossil fuels - there are 3 types of fossil fuels, which are:
Coal:
the “dirtiest” of all the fossil fuels, coal emits the most CO2 when burnt and is therefore the most harmful fossil fuel
Oil:
mostly used as fuel (e.g. gasoline, diesel), also used to make plastic
Natural gas:
produces the least emissions of the 3, mainly used to generate heat and electricity, such as for cooking
Fossil fuels are made of dead plants and animals that have been buried and squashed underground for millions of years. Because all living things contain carbon (humans are roughly 18% carbon), this carbon remains stored inside the organisms as they turn into fossil fuels. The carbon is then released into the atmosphere as CO2 when the fossil fuels are burnt.
Linking back to Climate change 101’s last article, you can now see why we emit so much CO2, even when doing activities that seem non polluting: most of our electricity comes from fossil fuel-powered plants, which means that any process that involves electricity will indirectly emit CO2 as fossil fuels are burnt to produce that energy.
To better understand why our society has become so heavily reliant on fossil fuels, we have to first understand that the discovery of fossil fuels over 200 years ago changed our world entirely. Before fossil fuels, most people were farmers and wood was the main source of fuel, which wasn’t very efficient. Most things were also hand-made and the main mode of transportation were horse-drawn carriages.
However, since humans discovered fossil fuels, we were able to automate many manual processes, leading to the industrial revolution and the rise of modern society. Thanks to fossil fuels, mass production was made possible for the first time in history. There was a massive increase in trade, cars replaced horses, international relations expanded, and our entire economy, healthcare and education systems improved our overall standard of living immensely. In other words, without fossil fuels, our world would be very different; yes, the environment would almost certainly be much healthier, but human health and wellbeing might be the ones threatened instead. You might not even be reading this article because your phone might not exist! And could you possibly imagine a world without Wi-Fi??
So fossil fuels have played a key role in shaping the world that we live in today, and without them, life could be a lot worse. But we can’t ignore the harmful impact fossil fuels have on our environment, and there’s no point in having a great quality of life without an Earth to live on. In our next article, we’ll find out why it’s so difficult to cut down on our fossil fuel consumption.
Credits:
Image - Getty Images/iStockphoto
Information - Usborne Climate Crisis for Beginners, DK Simply Climate Change, UN, EESI, Kids Discover Online
Comments