To make sure we have plenty of energy in the future, it's up to all of us to use energy wisely. We must all conserve energy and use it efficiently. It also ups to those of you who will want to create the new energy technologies of the future.

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Fossil fuels enable human ingevnovnuity and gave rise to the Industrial Revolution. Coal-fired electricity empowers humankind’s evolution in the Information Age.

Humans harness earth’s abundant fossil fuels resource – formed from the remains of prehistoric plant and animal life – as our primary source of energy. In a very real sense, using fossil fuels recycles the product of solar energy locked-up during photosynthesis over millions and millions of years.

Whether using coal to make most of the world’s electricity, petroleum as the lifeblood of transportation or, along with natural gas, as a feedstock for myriad industrial and commercial uses, fossil fuels are keys to our industrial evolution.

Where Fossil Fuels Come From

There are three major forms of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. All three were formed many millions of years ago during the time of the dinosaurs -- hence the name fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels are made up of decomposed plant and animal matter. Plants change energy they receive from the sun into stored energy. This energy is food used by the plant. This is called photosynthesis. Animals eat plants to make energy. And people eat animals and plants to get energy to do work.

When plants and dinosaurs and other ancient creatures died, they decomposed and became buried, layer upon layer under the ground. It took millions of years to form these layers into a hard, black coloured rock-like substance called coal; a thick liquid called oil or petroleum, and natural gas. Fossil fuels can be found under the earth in many locations around the country. In California, we have oil and natural gas resources.

Each of the fossil fuels is extracted out of the ground differently.

Coal used in power plants is not found in California but is abundant in other states. It is mined in deep mines or in strip mines closer to the surface and brought to California to power a few small power plants.

Oil or Petroleum

To find oil and natural gas, companies drill through the earth to the deposits deep below the surface. The oil and natural gas are then pumped from below the ground by oilrigs (like in the picture above). They then usually travel through pipelines, like the ones in the picture to the right in Alaska.

Oil is found in 18 of the 58 counties in California. Kern County, the County where Bakersfield is found, is one of the largest oil production places in the country. But we only get one-half of our oil from California wells. The rest comes from Alaska, and a small amount comes from other countries. This oil is brought to California by large tanker ships. The petroleum or crude oil must be changed or refined into other products before it can be used.


Refineries

Oil is stored in large tanks until it is sent to various places to be used.

Oil is also made into many different products -- fertilisers for farms, the clothes you wear the toothbrush you use the plastic bottle that holds your milk, the plastic pen that you write with. They all came from oil.

There are thousands of other products that come from oil. Almost all plastic comes originally from oil. Can you think of some things made from oil?

At oil refineries, crude oil is split into various types of products by heating the thick black oil.

The products include gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, and home heating oil, oil for ships and oil to burn in power plants to make electricity.


But in California, 74 percent of our oil is used for transportation -- cars, planes, trucks, buses and motorcycles. We'll learn more about transportation energy in
 

Natural Gas

Natural gas is also found in California. We use more than what is found in California. So, we also bring natural gas to California from other states and from Canada.

Natural gas is lighter than air. Natural gas is mostly made up of a gas called methane. Methane is a simple chemical compound that is made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Its chemical formula is CH4. This gas is highly flammable.

Natural gas is usually found near petroleum underground. The natural gas is pumped from below ground and sent in large pipelines like the ones to the right.

Natural gas usually has no odour and you can't see it. Before it is sent to the pipelines and storage tanks, it is mixed with a chemical that gives a strong odour. The odour smells almost like rotten eggs. The odour makes it easy to smell if there is a leak.

From the storage tanks natural gas is sent through underground pipes to your home to cook your food and heat your house. Natural gas is also sent to factories and to power plants to make electricity. We'll learn more about the pipelines in California in

Saving Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels take millions of years to make. We are using up the fuels that were made more than 65 million years ago in the time of the dinosaurs. Once they are gone they are gone.

So, it's best to not waste fossil fuels. They are not renewable; they can't really be made again.

We can save fossil fuels by conserving energy.

We'll learn more about saving energy in.


Here's what we Learned

  1. Fossil fuels were formed during the time of the dinosaurs when plants and animals died. Their decomposed remains gradually changed over the years to make coal, oil and natural gas.
  2. Fossil fuels are usually found below ground and must be either dug out (like coal) or pumped from below the ground (like oil and natural gas).
  3. California produces about one-half of the oil it uses. The rest comes from Alaska and other countries.
  4. Oil is transported in huge pipelines and tanker ships to places where it is made into other products.
  5. Many products like plastic and fertiliser come from oil.
  6. Natural gas is found near oil.
  7. Natural gas is sent through a series of pipes until it comes to our homes, schools and businesses.
  8. Fossil fuels are not renewable. They can't be remade.

Fossil fuels

The term "fossil fuels" refers to coal, oil (petroleum), and natural gas; these are formed from the decay of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. As they died, their remains formed huge layers of sediment (sedimentary strata) that can now be mined from the Earth and burned for heat and energy. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons that combine with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, and water. The two problems with using fossil fuels are (1) the supply is limited--sometime in the next century or two, regardless of our ingenuity in finding new fields, the supply of fossil fuels will run out, and (2) using fossil fuels is unhealthy for the environment--burning fossil fuels is the largest single source of pollution of the atmosphere.

Q. What is a fossil fuel?

A fossil fuel is a fuel, which was made millions of years ago from the remains of dead animals or plants. In most cases these remains became covered with mud or other sediments which, over many years, changed into rock. Pressure exerted by rock forming above (from layers of sediments formed later) and heat from deep within the earth were important in the changing of the animal and plant remains into fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal.

Fossil fuels are non-renewable. Once they have been used they cannot be replaced. It took millions of years for them to form and there is a finite (limited) amount of them in the earth’s crust. Eventually, if they continue to be used, all reserves of fossil fuels will run out, probably during the next millennium.

Fossil fuels are very important to us as energy sources. Nearly all the world’s energy requirements are met by burning fossil fuels. There are obviously pollution problems associated with this burning. When fossil fuels are burnt in power stations a large amount of carbon dioxide gas is produced. This gas increases the greenhouse effect, which contributes to global warming. Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are other gases released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. These gases are responsible for the formation of acid rain.

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The limited supplies of fossil fuels, the damage which can be done to the environment by their extraction from the earth’s crust and the pollution which their burning can cause are all reasons why other, alternative sources of energy are being explored. Try to find out some information about these alternative sources of energy.

When we hang laundry outside to dry in the sun, we are using the sun's heat to do work -- drying our clothes.

The sun has always been an energy source.

Plants use the sun's light to make food. Animals eat plants for ...

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**** A thorough description of the variety of energy sources available, starting with fossil fuels. Good summaries of the technical details. The discussion of ways of conserving energy is less well structured and focuses on the more obvious options.