How Alternative Fuels can help prevent global warming

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How Alternative Fuels can help prevent global warming

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA , at present the world is

facing the problem of global warming due to extensive use of the fossil fuels like coal , petroleum and natural gas . Fossil fuels are a product of decayed organic material such as plants and animals , over a long period of time . The main reason why fossil fuels have been linked to global warming is the increased emission of green

house gases related to the use of these fuels (U .S Department of Energy , 2 . Greenhouse gases are termed as such because they able to effectively 'trap ' the infra-red radiations (heat energy ) emitted by the sun in the earth 's atmosphere Some of this heat energy has been believed to get re-directed towards the earth 's surface resulting in a general increase in the temperature on the surface of the earth . This increase in temperature on the surface of the earth has been termed as global warming (U .S Department of Energy , 5 . Normally , natural green house gases (water vapour , carbon dioxide and a few trace gases ) present in the earth 's atmosphere and had been responsible for providing warmth and sustaining life . However if more greenhouse gases are released in the atmosphere , as a result of increased use of fossil fuels , more heat would get trapped in the atmosphere , resulting in global warming (U .S Department of Energy , 5 According to U .S Department of Energy (2 , during the year 2005 , U .S emissions of greenhouse gases carbon dioxide equivalent . This emission was 0 .6 percent more than that in the year 2004 . As shown in table 1 , out of the green house gases , approximately 84 percent of gas emissions consisted of CO2 . The remaining 14 was contributed by other green house gases like CO2 , nitrous oxide , methane hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs , perfluorocarbons (PFCs , sulfur hexafluoride (SF6 ) etc

In to prevent the emission of green-house gases and the associated climate changes

due to global warming the most important way is to stop or reduce the use of fossil fuels as a source of energy . However in today 's world it would be impossible to survive without a source of energy . In the modern world , energy is extensively used for transportation , communication industries , residential (refrigeration , heating etc , commercial purposes and generation of electricity (EIA . Increasing degree of efforts are been made to discover an alternative source of energy . The possible options include hydrogen fuel , solar energy , wind energy and bio-fuels . Use of all these fuels is free from the emission of green house gases and thus would help in preventing global warming . These alternative fuels would be briefly described in this

Table 1 . U .S . Emissions of Greenhouse Gases for the year 2005

Name of the Gas Amount of gas (Million Metric Tons Carbon Dioxide Equivalent ) Percentage of gas

Carbon Dioxide 6 ,008 .6

82 .6

Methane

611 .9 8 .6...