Carbon fuels in danger?

Millions of years ago vast areas of forests were buried under the earth's surface.These formed coal, oil and natural gas that are important for our progress and survival today. Both coal and petroleum are used in great volumes.

The smooth running of our society depends upon them. Coal is mined in large quantities to fuel thermal power plants. The extreme heat released by the burning coal is converted into electrical energy with the help of giant turbines. Neyveli in Tamil NAdu is an example of coal mining.

Petroleum products like petrol and diesel are used mainly to fuel vehicles from jumbo jets, heavy vehicles, cars and so on besides running machinery and gadgets. Kerosene is primarily used as fuel for the stove and to run small generators.

We have become so dependent on these fossil fuels that things would come to a standstill if we don't get the required volumes of these items. In such a case even key areas like defence, transport and industry would be affected.

An increase in the price of petroleum that we import can affect our economy. Sea-going tankers, as big as many football fields put together, transport petroleum from the oil-rich countries to many parts of the world. No wonder then, petroleum is referred to as black gold.

Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy. Scientists say that petroleum fields cannot last beyond this century. So efforts are on to exploit other sources of energy like solar energy and wind energy.

If fossil fuels are going to become scarce, what can we do to help? We must conserve these fuels, use them efficiently in our cars and so on and cut down on the amount of electricity we use in our homes. But we must also remember that fossil fuels are a source of pollution. We must maintain environmental standards of emission to keep ourselves healthy.

V.TAMILSELVAN, X

VIDYAPEETHAM SR. SEC. SCHOOL, Sholinghur

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