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Identification
Fossil fuels are called such because they formed in the Earth's crust over millions of years from decaying plants and animals, just as fossils do. Oil is composed of carbon and hydrogen-based molecules. Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are the primary components of all living creatures. When the oxygen leaves the body during decomposition, escaping or being used as fuel by the microorganisms responsible for decomposition, the carbon and hydrogen are left behind. Millions of years, mud and sediment buildup and a great deal of heat and pressure from the Earth's crust transformed these elements into oil. As the Earth's crust shifts, pockets of oil from below the Earth move close to the surface, allowing humans to access and mine their contents. It will take the Earth millions of years to rebuild the supply of oil that humans will have drained in a little over 200 years.
History
Since its first commercial use as a source of kerosene in the 1850s, oil and its distillate gasoline have become the most important energy resource in the world. For much of the time of its use, oil has been cheap and plentiful, requiring little technology to harvest. About 70 percent of the world's supply of oil is found in the Middle East, with the United States, Russia, Canada and China also holding large deposits. Oil futures, which are bets on the future price of a barrel of oil, are publicly traded commodities.
Considerations
It is predicted that at current rates of consumption, the world's oil reserves will be drained by around 2080. In fact, most of the easily accessed oil deposits are already empty. Even before the oil completely disappears, it will become prohibitively more expensive to recover and to purchase, so even though there may be recoverable oil through 2080, the ability for the average American to purchase and afford oil and gasoline will be over well before then.
Prevention
Motor oil used to lubricate machine and vehicle parts is recyclable, but gasoline, fuel oil and diesel are destroyed during their use. There is a race to find alternatives that can replace our global dependence on oil and other fossil fuels on a large enough scale. Conservation of remaining amounts of fossil fuels will help stretch out that exploratory period. Driving more fuel-efficient cars, using more public transportation, buying more local goods and produce and minimizing non-essential travel all help conserve oil-based fuels. They also help to reduce the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases that result from burning these fuels.
Solution
Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal have gained a great deal of attention, as has replacing liquid fuel with plant-based fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. In fact, the diesel engine was created by Rudolph Diesel in 1892 to run off peanut oil but was modified to run on the leftover product from gasoline refining in the 1920s. However, with the exception of the diesel engine and plant-based fuels, there is insufficient technology to use other renewable resources in the scale required to fully replace oil and fossil fuels. Nuclear power is an efficient source that is not dependent on fossil fuels, but it relies on the use of rods made from finite materials.