The positives (pros) and negatives (cons) of Fossil Fuels

For this levelled assessment you need to write a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron EITHER;

  • Explaining why we should abandon the use of fossil fuels for either nuclear fuels or renewable fuels OR
  • Explaining why Britain should continue to use fossil fuels

You should include as many arguments as possible and include a range of persuasive writing styles and phrases. You should outline both the positives and negatives of fossil fuels before coming to an EVIDENCE based opinion.

To gain really great marks, you will need to research extra information to that given to you in class, and keep a record of those information sources (book titles, web site addresses etc)

Fossil fuels also give out sulphur dioxide into the air, which after reacting with the moisture in air, produces sulphuric acid and leads to acid rain. Acid rain causes severe damage to the living as well as nonliving matter on the earth.
/ Oil is often transported from one place to another by the means of sea route. During this oil spills occur on the ocean surface and that causes severe harm to the marine life.
Fossil fuels have a high calorific value. In other words, combustion of fossil fuels generates a large amount of usable energy and are considered as high efficiency fuels. / On burning of fossil fuels, large amount of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. This can cause global warming
Prices for fossil fuels are going up as they run out. / Fossil fuels are stable in nature
The search for newer location for oil reserves is a highly expensive process with a very low success rate. As a result, large amounts of money get wasted in the process. / Fossil fuels are non renewable source of energy and are being used up very fast.
Coal is cheap and highly reliable source of energy. / Fossil fuels are more easily available as compared to any other fuels.
Due to mining of the coalfields, landscapes spread over large areas are being destroyed and cannot be used for any other purpose. / Fossil fuels generate millions of jobs world wide
Coal is easy to transport from one place to another, and oil and gas can be moved by pipelines / Some of the by products obtained during processing of the fossil fuels are highly toxic too.

Some of the Pros and cons of using fossil fuels;