Advantages Of Fossil Fuels 5d6g6m

Advantages of Fossil Fuels

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A major advantage of fossil fuels is their capacity to generate huge amounts of electricity in just a single location.

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Fossil fuels are very easy to find.

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When coal is used in power plants, they are very cost effective. Coal is also in abundant supply.

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Transporting oil and gas to the power stations can be made through the use of pipes making it an easy task.

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Power plants that utilize gas are very efficient.

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Power stations that make use of fossil fuel can be constructed in almost any location. This is possible as long as large quantities of fuel can be easily brought to the power plants.

Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels

 Pollution is a major disadvantage of fossil fuels. This is because they give off carbon dioxide when burned thereby causing a greenhouse effect. This is also the main contributory factor to the global warming experienced by the earth today.  Coal also produces carbon dioxide when burned compared to burning oil or gas. Additionally, it gives off sulphur dioxide, a kind of gas that creates acid rain.  Environmentally, the mining of coal results in the destruction of wide areas of land. Mining this fossil fuel is also difficult and may endanger the lives of miners. Coal mining is considered one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.  Power stations that utilize coal need large amounts of fuel. In other words, they not only need truckloads but trainloads of coal on a regular basis to continue operating and generating electricity. This only means that coal-fired power plants should have reserves of coal in a large area near the plant?s location.  Use of natural gas can cause unpleasant odors and some problems especially with transportation.

 Use of crude oil causes pollution and poses environmental hazards such as oil spills when oil tankers, for instance, experience leaks or drown deep under the sea. Crude oil contains toxic chemicals which cause air pollutants when combusted.

Activity 3 - Fossil Fuels - The pros and cons Advantages Fossil fuels are relatively cheap and plentiful

Disadvantages Fossil fuels will become more and more expensive to extract

Advanced technologies Extracting fuel will become more have been developed to allow dangerous as the mines get deeper or safe extraction. the oil-rigs go further out to sea. The technology already Pollution from these fuels is said exists for their use e.g. petrol- to be responsible for global warming, driven engines acid rain, and oil spillage

The means of It is very expensive to control the controlling pollution from these pollution and the price of fuel would fuels exists. have to rise. The income from the sale of the fuels can help a country's economy At present, no other energy source can fully and safely replace fossil fuels.

Advantages of Fossil Fuels

Depending on the fuel, fossil fuels are readily available. While it’s possible that we’re going to have a shortage in the future, it hasn’t happened yet, and new methods of exploiting these fuels are invented all the time. These fuels are easy to use, and a simple combustion process turns them into methods for running a vehicle, generating electricity, or providing heat. Fossil fuels are currently pretty cheap, as are the methods of generating energy from them. With our existing distribution networks, we can get fossil fuels of all kinds all over the world. That makes it easy to use them, no matter where you are. Many alternative fuels remain expensive, hard to distribute, difficult to get energy from and hard to access, making the switch over extremely difficult. Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels Of course, there are disadvantages to these fuels, as well. The biggest is probably the level of pollution they create. This varies by fuel, but oil and coal burning are responsible for acid rain and possibly for changing the world’s climate, as well. We can’t tell to what degree fossil fuel emissions are responsible for climate change, but the possibility is a worrisome one. There’s also the problem where fossil fuels are nonrenewable. It would take millions of years to replace coal, and oil, and we’re using them quickly. There’s a limited amount of these fuels available, and we’re not actually sure where that limit is. Technologies to get more out of the earth are advancing, but they don’t seem to be doing it as quickly as our demand is growing. In addition, while coal is much more plentiful than oil, extraction of coal can be very unsafe, and is damaging to the environment on a large scale, causing erosion, acidification of the environment, and destruction of wild lands. Fossil fuels are cheap and convenient, and they’ve been used for long enough that we’re used to depending on them. The vast majority of our infrastructure uses these fuels, and changing over from them will be a difficult process. However, environmental concerns and shortages will likely give us reason to do so. That’s why it’s important to investigate other options as well