Fossil fuels
What are fossil fuels?
Fossil fuels, also known as mineral fuels, are natural resources such as coal, oil and natural gas that contain hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are used in electricity generation because they release tremendous energy when burnt.
Fossil fuels are a primary resource. They are made by the breaking-down and compression of plant material over thousands of years. That's why it's impossible for humans to make more coal, oil or gas.
The Earth would in time make more fossil fuels. However, humans are removing supplies at a far greater rate than the Earth can replace them. For this reason fossil fuels are called non-renewable fuel sources because they cannot be replaced in a human timeframe.
What's wrong with fossil fuels?
The burning of fossil fuels is the largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Per person, Australia is the developed world's worst emitter of greenhouse gases. This is because most of our electricity comes from burning coal.
Electricity generation accounts for one third of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions.
Diesel
Diesel is produced by distilling oil. It is used to power engines in a similar way to petrol. Sometimes this type of fuel is called petrodiesel because alternative forms of diesel can be made from bio sources such as vegetable oil or animal fats.
Petrodiesel is a fossil fuel and gives off damaging emissions of gases just like petrol and other fossil fuels. There are pros and cons when comparing it to petrol as a means of powering engines. On the positive side, diesel is much cheaper to make. On the negative side, it gives off more sulphur dioxide (rotten egg smell) which reacts with air to produce sulphuric acid. This acid falls to the ground as acid rain and causes damage to the environment, contamination of the soil and chemical corrosion of man-made structures.