FOSSIL FUELS

Benefits of Fossil Fuels

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Natural Resource Classification and Status3

Looking Forward: Decarbonisation, Green Technology, and Renewable Energy5

Gas7

Alcohol8

Diesel Alternatives8

Hydrogen (H2)9

Alternative Clean Fuels Energy Sources10

Conclusion10

Benefits of Fossil Fuels on Humans Outweigh Their Environmental Implications



Introduction

There are many different types of resources, including human, social, information, and natural resources. This entry focuses specifically on natural resource management. While community organizations and state policies are very important for defining equitable and sustainable use of the Earth's resources (discussed below), this entry highlights private-sector practices, with attention to resource management benefits and costs associated with the rapid growth of green businesses. A discussion of participatory natural resource management models linked to the private sector and state initiatives follows an introduction to the characteristics of resources, ownership rights and responsibilities, and parameters for sustainable management (Andres, Fielding & Marland, 1999, pp.759-765).

Natural Resource Classification and Status

Natural resources are characterized as renewable or nonrenewable. Renewable resources, such as forests, can regenerate if they are not over harvested. Soil and water are both renewable, but can become deplete if not sustainable managed so that the rate at which they can become replenish is equal to or higher than the rate at which they are used. Once renewable resources are consumed at a rate that exceeds their natural rate of replacement, the standing stock will diminish and may eventually run out. Severe resource degradation can occur prior to total depletion, and usually occurs at accelerated rates in specific at-risk areas (Andres, Fielding & Marland, 1999, pp.759-765).

Fossil fuels, like coal, petroleum, and natural gas, take thousands of years to form, and are not created at the same speed as they are being consumed. These energy sources are considered nonrenewable and are at risk for depletion. Nuclear energy is also nonrenewable because it requires uranium, a finite resource (GSI, 2010). A natural resource's value rests in the amount and extractability of the material available and the demand for it. If we do not transition away from gasoline-powered vehicles, the price for oil may reach surprising levels.

Natural resources are currently under increasing pressure, threatening environmental and human health and development. Air, soil and water pollution, water shortages, soil exhaustion, loss deforestation, and degradation of coastlines are some of the many existing problems reflecting gaps and weakness in environmental policy and natural resource management. Most developed countries currently consume natural resources at a pace much faster than they can regenerate (GSI, 2010). Seventy-five percent of energy resources are consumed by 25 percent of the world's population, living in developed countries. The same population also consumes the majority of the world's extracted and marketed mineral and forest resources in any given year. On average, a child raised in the United States utilizes more than 30 times as many resources as a child reared in India.

Sustainable natural resource management requires addressing global inequity in resource use, since resource extraction may increase as low-income countries seek to develop and prosper. While many people in the industrialized world over consume, their counterparts in many developing ...