Hobbies And Interests
Power Plants
Power plants burn fossil fuels to generate the electricity that supplies homes and industries across the world. Power plants can burn solid coal, liquid oil or gas to generate electricity. Burning fossil fuels drive giant turbines at the power plant and these huge, spinning structures generate electricity. This electricity is channeled into the grid that supplies individual homes, factories and business premises. Although a small proportion of power is supplied through nuclear energy or renewable solar and wind power, most electricity comes from fossil fuels.
Domestic Power
Each time you turn on a light, the television set or an air conditioner or use the refrigerator, you use electricity derived from the burning of fossil fuels. Power plants supply the electricity required to meet consumer demands, so greater use of electricity leads to more burning of fossil fuels. Homes linked to gas supplies also burn fossil fuel each time the gas range or gas central heating is used.
Automobiles
Trucks, buses and cars burn fossil fuels. Gasoline is derived from oil, and every automobile is a mini-power station on wheels that burns gasoline to provide the power necessary to move. Automobiles burn the gasoline in an internal combustion engine that powers the wheels of the car and the vehicle's electrical systems. Even new hybrid and electric cars burn fossil fuels because they rely on electricity to charge a storage battery and provide power.
Domestic Heat
Burning coal in open fireplaces is another form of burning fossil fuels. Coal is formed of petrified wood exposed to high pressures over millions of years. Wood and charcoal are not fossil fuels, and burning them is considered "carbon neutral" because it doesn't deplete the Earth's fossil fuel reserves or produce a net increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.