Future Fuels: Sparks? Soy? By KRISTEN STERNBERG | NIE
Educational Consultant The Earth's population continues to grow,
and more people mean more development, more food production,
more industry and more travel, for a start. All these
activities-and many others-require fuel. What if the world ran
out of fuel? Fuel isn't only the stuff we use to heat our homes
or drive our cars. It powers trains, planes, ships and rockets.
It runs machinery on farms and in factories, and produces the
electricity we take for granted. For heat, transportation and
electricity, people most often use "fossil fuels" such as oil,
coal and natural gas. They are called fossil fuels because they
were formed during the time of the dinosaurs, hundreds of
millions of years ago. Fossil fuels are a growing concern for
many reasons. For example, when burned they release toxins that
harm our environment. Also, they are a non-renewable resource.
Non-renewable means there is a limited supply-new fossil fuels
can't be produced as quickly as they'r