Natural Ressource: anything obtained from the environment to satisfy human needs and wants

Non-renewable energy comes from sources that will run out or will not be replenished in our
lifetimesor even in many, many lifetimes.

Most non-renewable energy sources are fossil fuels: coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Carbon is the
main element in fossil fuels. or this reason, the time period that fossil fuels formed !about "#$-"$$
million years ago% is called the Carboniferous &eriod.

'll fossil fuels formed in a similar way. (undreds of millions of years ago, even before the
dinosaurs, )arth had a different landscape. *t was covered with wide, shallow seas and swampy
forests.

&lants, algae, and plan+ton grew in these ancient wetlands. ,hey absorbed sunlight and created
energy through photosynthesis. -hen they died, the organisms drifted to the bottom of the sea or
la+e. ,here was energy stored in the plants and animals when they died.

.ver time, the dead plants were crushed under the seabed. Roc+s and other sediment piled on top of
them, creating high heat and pressure underground. *n this environment, the plant and animal
remains eventually turned into fossil fuels !coal, natural gas, and petroleum%. ,oday, there are huge
underground poc+ets !called reservoirs% of these non-renewable sources of energy all over the
world.

Advantages and Disadvantages
ossil fuels are a valuable source of energy. ,hey are relatively ine/pensive to e/tract. ,hey can
also be stored, piped, or shipped anywhere in the world.

(owever, burning fossil fuels is harmful for the environment. -hen coal and oil are burned, they
release particles that can pollute the air, water, and land. 0ome of these particles are caught and set
aside, but many of them are released into the air.

1urning fossil fuels also upsets )arth2s 3carbon budget,4 which balances the carbon in the ocean,
earth, and air. -hen fossil fuels are combusted !heated%, they release carbon dio/ide into the
atmosphere. Carbon dio/ide is a gas that +eeps heat in )arth2s atmosphere, a process called the
3greenhouse effect.4 ,he greenhouse effect is necessary to life on )arth, but relies on a balanced
carbon budget.

,he carbon in fossil fuels has been se5uestered, or stored, underground for millions of years. 1y
removing this se5uestered carbon from the earth and releasing it into the atmosphere, )arth2s carbon
budget is out of balance. ,his contributes to temperatures rising faster than organisms can adapt.