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Energy

Human beings require energy for just about any type of function that they perform. Energy is essential for agriculture and industry. Houses must be heated and even within one’s body a constant flow of energy takes place. Energy in use is divided into renewable type of energy like the sunlight and the wind, and non-renewable type of energy like the fossil fuels which include coal, petroleum and natural gas. The renewable energy can be consumed by human without being depleted while the non-renewable type of energy is easily depleted with consumption because the rate at which they are consumed is higher than the rate of their formation.

Fossil fuels are formed from combustion of dead decaying animals and plant materials that were deposited over a long period of time. Their origin is exclusively dependent on the origin and the biochemical components of life, (John 126). The formation of fossil fuels takes a longer time to occur because the deposited animal or plant material has to decompose and decay for several years before combustion. For example coal is formed from decay of land vegetation over millions of years through compaction and heating of the layers. The fossil fuels could be volatile materials that contain low carbon, for example methane or non-volatile materials with pure carbon.

The occurrence of fossil fuels depends on the particular fuel itself. The fuels occur differently depending on their formation and their composition. For example methane is found in hydrocarbons in association with oil while petroleum oil is found trapped on rocks or sediments because it is formed from the remains of marine organisms which are deposited on the floor of the sea. Natural gas can be found compressed in the depths of the earth and its reserves are evenly distributed globally unlike the oils and coal. The fossil fuels can be exploited through drilling to extract them from their reserves. Fossil fuels reserves are found in most parts of the world. The United States has the largest reserve of coal followed by Russia and china, while Russia has the largest reserve of natural gas and it’s closely followed by Iran and Qatar.

Renewable resources are endangered by increase in population and the industrial growth and developments. Their conservation ensures sustainability and ease of replacement. There are several ways that have been put up to conserve the resources. The federal governments are developing generation facilities to conserve the renewable resources like the Aswan high dam in Egypt is conservation for geo thermal power. The impacts of the renewable resources on the environment vary with their utilization and their conservation. Continuous sun rays on the earth surface leads to a depletion of vegetation cover through drying of plants thus a reduction of the moisture content contributed by the plant to the environment. Extreme blowing of wind on the earth surface causes erosion of the top soil of the earth. Erosion of the top soil leads to loss of important soil nutrients and leaves the soil bare and unproductive.

The burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide which is released to the environment, most of this carbon dioxide is not absorbed thus an increase in the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere causing global warming and increasing the surface temperature of the earth and therefore causing adverse effects to the environment. There is also generation of nitrites and sulphur that fall back to the earth as acid rain increasing soil acidity. These are all adverse effects to the environment, but the renewable sources of energy have less effect compared to fossil fuel.

Works Cited

John, R. Energy: technology and directions of the future. USA: Elsevier Inc, 2004. Print.