Types of energy resources. Countries that are the major producers of fossil fuels. Problem of limited fossil fuels resources

Types of energy resources

The energy sources have been split into three categories:

• fossil fuels (non-renewable): coal, oil, and natural gas;

• renewable sources: solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, and geothermal power;

• nuclear sources: fission and fusion.

Major fossil fuels producers

2009 statistics:

Top 10 oil producers: Russia, Saudi Arabia, USA, Iran, China, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Iraq, Kuwait;

Top 10 gas producers: USA, Russia, Canada, Norway, Qatar, China, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia;

Top 10 coal producers: China, USA, India, Australia, Russia, Indonesia, South Africa, Germany, Poland, Kazakhstan.

Fossil fuels problems:

• Limited amount. At some point (though not soon) we are going to run out (by the early 22th century given that the level of consumption is constant). Fossil fuels formed from plants and animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago and became buried way underneath the Earth's surface where their remains collectively transformed into the combustible materials we use for fuel. Although we are a long way from running out of fossil fuels it is important that we start planning for alternatives. It will likely take a long time to get the alternative energy sources to the point that they are actually a viable alternative. Making sure that we are prepared for when we run out of fossil fuels is vitally important for the good of the economy.

• Increasing demand. As countries with large populations like China and India become more and more developed they are going to use an increasing amount of fossil fuels. The increasing competition for what is a limited resource is going to send the price soaring. People are already upset by the high fuel prices, in reality they are likely to go much higher in the future. When this happens it is going to do real damage to the economies of developed nations that rely on fossil fuels imported from overseas.

• Damage to the environment. There is environmental damage in getting the fossil fuels out of the ground and there is environmental damage when we burn them as a fuel source. The threat of climate change has made it obvious that we are going to have to reduce the emissions that we produce. That means we either need to find a way to reduce the damage done by fossil fuels or we need to find an alternative energy source.