fuel costs

A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed underground from the remains of dead plants and animals that humans extract and burn to release energy for use. The main fossil fuels are coal, petroleum and natural gas, which humans extract through mining and drilling. Fossil fuels may be burnt to provide heat for use directly (e.g. for cooking), to power engines (such as internal combustion engines in motor vehicles), or to generate electricity.The principal origin of fossil fuels is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing organic molecules created in ancient photosynthesis. The transitions from these source materials to high-carbon fossil fuels typically requires a geological process of millions of years, sometimes more than 650 million years.Fossil fuels can be transformed into other chemicals or derivatives by the refining and chemical industries. Commonly-used refined fossil fuels include kerosene, gasoline and propane, and common chemicals include most plastics and agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. As of 2018, the world's main primary energy sources consisted of petroleum (34%), coal (27%), and natural gas (24%), amounting to an 85% share for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the world. Non-fossil sources included nuclear (4.4%), hydroelectric (6.8%), and other renewable energy sources (4.0%, including geothermal, solar, tidal, wind, wood, and waste). The share of renewable sources (including traditional biomass) in the world's total final energy consumption was 18% in 2018.Fossil fuels cause serious environmental damage and direct negative consequences on local communities at every stage in their use: extraction, transportation and consumption of the fuels. Most significantly, the burning of fossil fuels produces around 35 billion tonnes (35 gigatonnes) of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or about 89% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Natural processes on Earth (mostly through absorption by the ocean) can only absorb a small part of this amount, therefore there is a net increase of many billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that increases radiative forcing, thus fossil fuels are the main source of greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming and ocean acidification. Additionally, most air pollution deaths are due to fossil fuel combustion products: it is estimated that this pollution costs over 3% of global GDP, and that fossil fuel phase-out would save 3.6 million lives each year.Recognition of the climate crisis, pollution and other negative impacts caused by fossil fuels has led to a widespread policy transition and activist movement focused on ending their use in favor of renewable energy. However, because the fossil fuel industry is so important to the global economy and historically heavily subsidized, this transition is expected to have significant economic impacts. Many stakeholders argue that this change needs to be a just transition and create policy that addresses the stranded assets of the fossil fuel industry. International policy, in the form of Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action and the Paris Climate Agreement, is designed to facilitate this transition at a global level. In 2021, the International Energy Agency concluded that no new fossil fuel extraction projects could be opened if the global economy and society wants to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and meet international goals for climate change mitigation.

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