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Fossil Fuels vs Energy Alternatives

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Submitted By collegejennifer
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How can energy be converted from one form to another? All forms of energy can be converted to another form of. For example: A pendulum is an object is suspended by a string or wire for support. If the object is moved to one side and then released, it will swing back and forth in an arc. At that moment the object reaches the top of its swing, it stops for an instant, and then begins another swing. At that instant of stopping, the object has 100 percent potential energy and no kinetic energy. The object starts back down through the swing, the object is gaining kinetic energy and losing potential energy. At the instant the object is at the bottom of the swing, it has 100 percent kinetic energy and no potential energy. As the object climbs through the other half of the arc, it is gaining potential energy and losing kinetic energy until it again reaches an instantaneous stop at the top, and the process starts over. The kinetic energy of the object at the bottom of the arc is equal to the potential energy it had at the top of the arc. Disregard the friction, the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy remains constant throughout the swing. The fossil fuels are objects that are decomposed over a period of time. The fossil fuels are usually having lots of carbon which is produced into natural gas, coal and petroleum. Fossil fuels also have lower numbers of carbons and create methane. The fossil fuels are an attractive source because they can be burned and create more enough energy to either melting metal ore. The petroleum is good source of using oils in lamps instead of using animals. Natural gas and coal are used to run engines, produce heat, and electricity. The remaining left over is used to build our roads. The fossil fuels are known to have a straightforward combustion process, relatively inexpensive and easily transported. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy source and they take well over a million years to create and be replacing within the human timescale once they are gone. The alternative of the fossil fuels are Biomass Energy, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Geothermal Energy, and Hydroelectric Energy. The Biomass energy is an organic matter that is used by photosynthesis. This is used to generate energy and the most common energy is coming from the wood of the trees, corn, municipal solid waste, and sugarcane. The biomass is used to create ethanol, biodiesel, bio oil and biogas. This in turns create electricity with steam turbines and gasifies to produce heat. The advantage of using the biomass over the fossil fuel is that biomass is a renewable carbon source, zero net carbon dioxide emissions, lower methane, sulfate, and hydrocarbon emissions, and the most important is no dependence on foreign oil. Another is the geothermal energy, in which it uses the heat from the earth to warm things up. The common source is cost effective, reliable, and environmentally friendly. The main sources of uses are to heat homes, greenhouse, industrial process heating mineral recovery, fisheries and also mitigate global warnings. Geothermal energy is more valuable than the fossil fuels because it is an inexhaustible energy source, lot less emissions in the atmosphere, more efficient than solar energy, work under any kinds of weather conditions. The fossil fuels are irreplaceable, create massive environmental pollution and are also causes the major factor of the global warming and the ozone layer depletion. Also the Biomass and the Geothermal are very inexpensive compare to the fossil fuels by almost 50 percent.

References
Haluzan, Ned. (2010, November 22). Biofuels advantages and disadvantages. Renewable Energy Articles, Retrieved from http://www.renewables-info.com/drawbacks_and_benefits/biofuels_advantages_and_disadvantages.html
Haluzan, Ned (2010, December 21). Geothermal heat pumps – Advantages and disadvantages. Renewable Energy Articles, Retrieved from http://www.renewables-info.com/drawbacks_and_benefits/geothermal_heat_pumps_–_advantages_and_disadvantages.html Jessa, Tega. (2010, September 15). What Are Fossil Fuels? Universe Today, Retrieved from http://www.universetoday.com/73708/what-are-fossil-fuels/
Union of Concerned Scientist. (2010, October 29). How Biomass Energy Works. Clean Energy, Retrieved from http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technologies/how-biomass-energy-works.html
United States Energy Information Administration. (n.d.) Renewable Geothermal. Energy Kids, Retrieved from http://205.254.135.24/kids/energy.cfm?page=geothermal_home

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