Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuel is a general term for buried deposits of organic materials. They have been around for more than 300 million years. From decayed plants and animals, these have been converted into coal, oil, natural gases, and uranium.
questions
- Is the Energy Source classified as non renewable, renewable, or inexhaustible? Fossil fuels are non renewable because we as humans burn them to create energy, and when we do that, we can never get them back since they turn into carbon dioxide and disappear into the atmosphere.
- How is the energy source made usable? The fuels in their natural state are not really any good for anything, so we need to refine them. One way is by boiling it. When it's boiled and the temperature rises, different compounds come out. Once the oil hits certain temperatures, certain compounds start boiling, so they take them out.
- What are the infrastructure requirements for utilizing this energy source? To get the oils out of the ground, you are going to need very large drills and pipes. For all of the gases, you are going to need pipelines, mines and power plants.
- What emerging technologies will make this energy source safer, more usable, more efficient, cleaner..etc? We need to make safer, more efficient machines because we are killing our enviornment as we speak. By doing that, we would create cleaner fuels, which would reduce emissions of smoke and bad gases into the atmosphere.
Sources
http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/HowFossilFuelsWork.php
http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/fossil_fuel.htm
http://www.eesi.org/topics/fossil-fuels/description
http://energy.gov/articles/potential-path-emissions-free-fossil-energy
http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/fossil_fuel.htm
http://www.eesi.org/topics/fossil-fuels/description
http://energy.gov/articles/potential-path-emissions-free-fossil-energy