Sources
Your electricity can come from a number of different sources, including coal (see generation), renewable energy and diesel.
Diesel is used to power engines in a similar way to petrol and is produced by distilling oil. 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 gas emissions just like petrol and other fossil fuels. 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, causing damage to the environment, contamination of the soil and chemical corrosion of man-made structures.