Fossil fuel

Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, primarily coal, fuel oil or natural gas, formed from the remains of dead plants and animals.

The term fossil fuel also includes hydrocarbon-containing natural resources that are not derived from animal or plant sources. These are sometimes known instead as mineral fuels.

Fossil fuel is a general term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years.

The burning of fossil fuels by humans is the largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases that allows radioactive forcing and contributes to global warming.

1. What are the types of fossil fuels? 3. What does the burning of fossil fuel lead to?

2. How did they develop?

Text 2. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY Advantages of Nuclear Energy – Nuclear power plants could still produce electricity after coal and oil become scarce. – Nuclear power plants need less fuel than ones which burn fossil fuels. Coal and oil burning plants pollute the air. Well-operated nuclear power plants do not release contaminants into the environment. Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy – Nuclear explosions produce radiation. The nuclear radiation harms the cells of the body which can make people sick or even kill them. – One possible type of reactor disaster is known as a meltdown. In such an accident, the fission reaction goes out of control, leading to a nuclear explosion and the emission of great amounts of radiation. – In 1986, a disaster struck Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to the radiation and many died within a few days. – Reactors produce nuclear waste products which emit dangerous radiation. Because they could kill people who touch them, they cannot be thrown away like ordinary garbage. – Nuclear reactors only last for about forty to fifty years. 1. Why do the people generate nuclear energy? 2. Is it more harmful to the environment than fossil fuel? 3. What are the nuclear waste products? Are they dangerous? Why?	Text 3. RENEWABLE ENERGY IS CAPABLE OF MEETING OUR ENERGY NEEDS Renewable energy – which includes solar, wind, hydro, certain types of biomass and geothermal energy – has the potential to replace conventional fossil fuels and nuclear power. Importantly, renewable energy technologies produce virtually no greenhouse gas emissions and can effectively address climate change. If unchecked, the disruption of the earth’s atmosphere poses the greatest threat to humankind in our lifetimes. Continuing to fill the atmosphere with greenhouse gases will melt the ice sheets, raise sea levels, bring extreme weather patterns, disrupt food production, and destroy whole ecosystems. Hundreds of millions of people may be left without food, shelter or clean water, causing political and social upheaval. With minimal initial capital costs and short deployment times, renewable technologies could address global climate change more quickly than nuclear power, and without the production of radioactive waste or other significant types of pollution. 1. What are the sources of renewable energy? 2. Is it dangerous and expensive to produce green energy? 3. What may happen if we do not produce renewable energy?
4.3. Find the words highlighted in the texts that mean the same as: 1) a carbonaceous fuel mined or stripped from the earth, such as petroleum, coal, peat, shale oil, or tar sands ________________________________ 2) a general term for the radioactive waste produced by industries ____________________ 3) a power plant in which nuclear energy is converted into heat for use in producing steam for turbines, which in turn drive generators that produce electric power ___________________ 4) a system involving the interactions between a community of living organisms in a particular area and its nonliving environment ___________ 5) a thick layer of ice covering a large area of land for a long time, esp those in Antarctica and Greenland ______________________________	6) any organic compound containing only carbon and hydrogen ____________________________ 7) any pieces, scraps, fragments left unused after the passage of time _______________________ 8) heat under the ground used to heat water and make steam to turn generator turbines and make electricity ______________________________ 9) petroleum before it has been refined _______ 10) pollutant _____________________________ 11) reactor disaster _______________________ 12) substance that is released _______________ 13) the act or process of splitting or breaking into parts __________________________________ 14) the melting of the fuel rods as a result of a defect in the cooling system, with the possible escape of radiation into the environment _______________________________________

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4.4. Hidden in the box are 21 words relating to energy, fuel and environment. To find them you need to look horizontally or vertically. The first one is done for you. F O S S I L O W A S T E U C O N T A M I N A N T E C O S Y S T E M D I G L O A C P B G R F I E R E I R A D I A T I O N E M L L R C O S O S X E E I C I B O M O M S I R N S R C O A A P E I D G H S U P N L S T L O E Y O I D E P O S I T N E F U O E M E L T D O W N I S N U C L E A R P E I C E

3. The company says its products will be competitive with petroleum-based fuels if __________ oil is priced at $50 per barrel or more. The analysis is pretty __________. I'm underlining a lot and not differentiating very well. Though the film is a ______ melodrama, Mitchum's acting is shockingly vivid, an eloquent testament to his grasp of the human capacity for evil. 4. The Banking Act of 1933, commonly called the Glass-Steagall Act, separated commercial banks from investment banks and gave us a stable financial __________. They recognize the elements of their ___.

4.5. For sentences 1-5, think of one word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences. 1. The surroundings have a/ an __________ of familiarity that Fresno never had. Society values clean water, clean __________, and the natural flows of energy, organisms, and other resources associated with fully functioning landscapes and watersheds. There are many more people who want to travel by __________ this year than last. 2. Some __________ species are also threatened with extinction by hybridization. Up to 30 residents on Saturday will ________ vegetables such as okra, squash, tomatoes and green beans. The overall thermal efficiency of the __________ would be quite high.

But thousands of years in a predator-free __________ had transformed the island fox into an easygoing creature, rambling the arid hillsides in sunlight 5. De Borchgrave did as much as any man this side of Reagan to change the __________ of opinion in Washington. She argues that the current political __________ in Russia makes it very difficult for the media to operate without being subject to significant self-censorship. Changing patterns of wildfire, linked to fire suppression and __________ change, have reinvigorated political and scientific debate over fire and fuels management.

4.6. How environmentally aware are you? Do the quiz and find out. Answer the following 12 questions, keeping track of all your answers on a piece of paper and learn how eco-friendly you are.