Guest Post by American Dream It is our pleasure to share with you a recent blog post from American Dream. American Dream will be doing a presentation on Solar Energy for your Home, here at EarthConnection, on September 14 at 7 pm.  They are a locally owned company with strong ties to our community here in Cincinnati, but more importantly, they believe like us that the more self-sufficient we become, the more we help our planet.  We hope you will sign up for their presentation on Thursday, September 14 on our events page and we encourage you to share their article on Renewable Energy vs Fossil Fuels. It is well-done!  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Energy is a very important part of everyday life. Anything electricity-related, gas-related and heat-related is connected to the world of energy and fuels. Imagine a world without energy, electricity, and fuels—your car wouldn’t be able to move an inch, the Internet would cease to exist, and there would be no air conditioning or central heating. The world revolves so much on the use of fuels, that life just wouldn’t be the same without them. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels Fossil fuels are one of the Earth’s greatest energy sources. The process of creating these fuels began long before the dinosaurs walked the earth. Millions of years ago, tiny plants and animals lived and died in the earth’s oceans. As they died, their bodies would sink to the ocean floor and would eventually be covered by layers of rock, sand and mud. These layers would then be subjected to high pressure for millions of years, thus creating the fossil fuels everyone knows and loves. The secret to the high-energy concentration that fossil fuels have, is their slow decay rate. The organic matter buried millions of years ago had very little chance to decay, enabling their energy to be stored and later converted to fossil fuels. The abundance and relatively low cost of these fuels also supply power plants with enough energy to generate electricity for the world. Fossil fuels are also necessary for the production of numerous household products like paints, detergents, medicines, cosmetics, and many more. Millions of households and businesses around the world use fossil fuels for heating, cooking, and other purposes. In fact, most of the world’s fossil fuel supplies come from the Middle East. It’s good for their economy and enables them to easily engage in business with other countries. But while fossil fuels have many advantages, they aren’t perfect. They may be extremely helpful and valuable, but they can take millions of years to form and can’t be artificially generated in labs. Furthermore, fossil fuels give off harmful green gases when burned. Large amounts of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide are released into the atmosphere every time power plants burn fossil fuels on a massive scale. This greatly contributes to global climate change and puts everyone at risk. Is There An Alternative To Fossil Fuels? If you’re wondering about whether or not fossil fuels are the be-all and-end-all of the fuel industry, they’re not. Renewable energy is a newfound alternative to fossil fuels. While … Continue reading Renewable Energy vs Fossil Fuels