Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of electricity people use
every day. Hydrogen fuel is
also being looked at as an
alternative to the gasoline we
use to power vehicles large
and small.
Most of the electricity used
in cities and towns today is
produced in power plants
that burn
fossil fuels
—such
as coal and natural gas—to
generate the electricity. The
oil that is
rei ned
to become
gasoline is also a fossil fuel.
In the future, hydrogen may
serve as the energy for both
electricity and vehicle power.
In Their
Own Words
“Someday we will run
out of fossil fuels
and perhaps more
importantly, someday the
environmental impact of
these fuels will catch up
with us. Global warming
is a real threat, but
fossil fuel combustion
[burning] also causes
local pollution. We need
to stop burning things
as much as possible”
Bruce Rittman, Center for
Environmental Biotechnology,
Biodesign Institute,
Arizona State University
The Need for
Alternatives
Why do we need alternatives
to fossil fuels? There are a
number of reasons. Fossil fuels are
nonrenewable
resources.
They took millions of years to form, and there is only a limited
supply of them on Earth. Once we use up the supply that
currently exists, there will be no new fossil fuels to replace
them. Eventually, they will be gone—and that time is not far off.
The population of the United States (and the rest of the world)
is growing. People are using more and more nonrenewable
resources for energy. The world's supply of coal may run out
