Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are non-renewable sources of energy formed in the earth over the past 550 million years, typically from the remains of marine microorganisms and plants. Sealed off from oxygen and put under ever-increasing amounts of heat and pressure, this organic matter undergoes a thermal breakdown process that ultimately converts it to hydrocarbons.
When fossil fuels are burned, they release pollutants which contribute to global warming and acid rain.
The United States gets roughly 80% of its total energy production from fossil fuels and about 82% of its energy consumption. Fossil fuels heat our homes, run our vehicles, power industry and manufacturing, and provide us with electricity. Eventually, the degree to which we depend on fossil fuels will have to decline. For one thing, they are non-renewable resources, and for another, the devastation wreaked by our burning them has and is creating significant climate change. Meanwhile, barriers to decarbonization include technological costs and availability, intermittency of renewables, regulatory and policy barriers, insufficient transmission infrastructure, as building new high-voltage lines across state lines involves complex regulatory approval (see utilities section).
In 1950, nearly equal amounts of U.S. residential energy came from petroleum, coal, natural gas, and wood, and relatively little came from electricity (5%). In 2018, the U.S. residential sector consumed natural gas (41%) and electricity (44%) in nearly equal shares. Similarly, the U.S. commercial sector’s 2018 energy consumption was also mostly natural gas (38%) and electricity (50%).
According to the latest report from the Energy Transitions Commission, in order to meet Paris Agreement climate goals, fossil fuel use must be dramatically reduced by 2050. In 2023, COP28 closed with an agreement that signals the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era by laying the ground for a swift, just, and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emission cuts and scaled-up finance.
CREDIT: STATISTA
