Fossil fuels

Fossil fuels are oil (petroleum), coal, and [natural gas]?. The utilization of fossil fuels has fueled industrial development and largely surplanted water and steam power. The burning of fossil fuels is the major source of emissions of greenhouse gases, as even the cleanest burning techniques produce carbon dioxide.

They are called fossil fuels because they are believed to have been created from the decaying remnants of ancient lifeforms. There are some scientists who dispute this claim, however.

Fossil fuels are a limited resource, but the alarmist reports from the early 1970s (the [oil crisis]?) that the supplies should run out about now have proven wrong. Still, sooner or later we will have to find alternatives in some kind of renewable energy source.