The Advantages and Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels
Humans have been burning fossil fuels for over a century and a half now and in that time we have become very good and finding, extracting, and refining the crude product from which these fuels are made.ย So, advantage number one for fossil fuels would have to be infrastructure. The knowledge to exploit these resources and the tools to make that happen are both well-defined, in place, and in use on a daily basis.
Probably the most substantial benefit to come from fossil fuels is their energy density. Fossil fuels carry enough energy in a small enough space to make them very practical for a number of uses, most importantly transportation. The same cannot be said for many biofuels or for electricity, which requires large and cumbersome batteries that generally only provide a fraction of the energy density of fossil fuels.
Finally, fossil fuels are inexpensive and have uses beyond their applications to energy. They offer raw material for industries ranging from plastic to pharmaceuticals to laboratory science. Their applications go well beyond energy.
Of course, the disadbvantages of fossil fuels are well known. They are in limited supply, which means sooner or later we will run low and prices will begin to climb. Eventually they will disappear altogether. Even if this problem could be addressed, it would not eliminate the huge environmental impacts that fossil fuels have, including everything from oil spills to global warming to acid rain.
The best way to view fossil fuel energy is as the source that brought humanity into the twenty-first century. They aren’t 'evil' but it is time for society to transition to alternatives for the sake of the environment and because, eventually, the current source of our energy will run dry. These are just some of the reasons humans have turned to biofuels.