Since the 1950s, petroleum became the most common fuel in america as the demand for cars that run off it increased drastically. From a fuel perspective, petroleum is great as its 85% efficient and contains hydrocarbons. But from an environmental perspective, petroleum isn't great as it’s not renewable, releases greenhouse gases, and the extraction and production of petroleum harms habitats. Petroleum is a fossil fuel that was formed from the remains of marine organisms which died millions of years ago. The organic materials from the organisms mixed with other sediments in the water. Once they mixed, they fell to the bottom of the oceans and were buried and compressed by all the water above it. The extreme pressure from the water compressed the remains into the fossil fuels we used today. Many of these fossil fuels are found in reservoirs that are located under the ocean floor or beneath the earth's surface. Locating these reservoirs and extracting the crude oil with giant drills harms ecosystems and habitats. These holes these drills are drilling into the earth are 12 cm to a meter in diameter. Animals in these regions can have their homes destroyed by the holes or the transportation of the drills. The oil extraction process also allows for excess oil to stay in the soil and leave it infertile. This is especially harmful in the prairies of Alberta where oil and gas is our main industry and agriculture is also a big industry.
As petroleum is a fossil fuel, it is not renewable. This means that we will eventually run out of this energy source and have to find a new source of energy. This new source of energy will have to be more sustainable (renewable), and produce less emissions than petroleum did. Petroleum releases toxic gases when it’s burned as fuel which affects our climate. Greenhouse gases help regulate earth's atmospheric temperature but the added emissions from the fuel for production and transportation are slowly increases this temperature.
