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Currently, there is a great debate in our society surrounding carbon fuels. To understand the issues associated with them, one first needs to understand the process in forming carbon fuels.

Forming Carbon Fuels

Carbon fuels are the most widely used energy sources in the world. Also known as mineral fuels, carbon fuel is a term used to describe hydrocarbon fuel sources. Some of the most popular carbon fuels are oil (petroleum), natural gas and coal. The burning of all of these carbon fuels in combustion engines is what propels most vehicles and is also the primary source of fuel for electricity producing power plants. Forming carbon fuels takes millions of years, which gives rise to a host of problems.

If you are going to join the carbon fuels debate, you need to understand how carbon fuels come to be. Forming carbon fuels takes a certain amount of organic matter and perfect conditions. Millions of years ago when dinosaurs and other extinct creatures still roamed the Earth, the process of forming carbon fuels started to take place. When these creatures and plant matter died, the remains were slowly buried and absorbed into the crust of the planet. In doing so, the materials started to decay. With many different epochs (time periods) of animals and plants accumulating, more and more layers of dead matter built up in the layers of crust.

While underground, these decomposing organic, carbon-based materials were subjected to heat and pressure. This combination allowed the carbon in these organisms to change from decaying matter to the hydrocarbons that we use today. Depending on what exactly was decomposing (for example, plant matter or animal matter) the format of carbon fuels produced varies from coal (a solid, mostly plant based substance), to oil and finally to natural gas. Although the forming of carbon fuels is not a particularly complex matter, the very nature of the process has led to a host of problems.

Practically speaking, one of the biggest problems is the forming of carbon fuels is not uniform throughout the planet. Some countries have vast resources because the luck of the draw was such that massive amounts of carbon fuels formed within their border. This is most often exemplified by the Mid-East and its large reserves of oil. As energy demand rises, of course, this leads to economic issues that give rise to supply and demand issues, political maneuvering and even all out war. While this area of the world is a mess today, it will only grow more so as the energy needs of exploding economies such as China grow.

An equally big issue with the forming of carbon fuels is the very nature of the substance. The use of the term hydrocarbons is very accurate. These fuels are primarily carbon forms. A byproduct of their refinement is the production of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is one of the worst greenhouse gases, and a major cause of the current global warming worries.

Finally, the forming of carbon fuels presents a third major problem supply. Simply put, carbon fuels are not renewable. There is only so much of the stuff in the crust of the planet. As our energy needs explode, we are draining a finite resource. Within the next 100 years or so, the demands on this resource will be such that the supply will not even remotely meet demand. This will lead to much higher prices, political strife and inevitably military efforts to control the resource. In simple terms, the next century is going to be tense.

Understand the process of forming carbon fuels is the key to understanding the debate on the energy. The forming process leads directly to the resulting problems, to wit, a limited resource that harms our environment.

Rick Chapo is with Solar Companies - a directory of solar energy companies.