More people are becoming concerned about the environmental impacts of using coal for energy.

Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas are non-renewable source of energy. The fossil fuels are formed from animals and plants that lived up to 500 million years ago and have been covered over time in the Earth’s soil deep below the surface.

The fossil fuels are burned to release their chemical energy that they store. It comes as a surprise to many humans that fossil fuels currently compose close to 85% of the energy consumption in the world today.

When fossil fuel is burned the byproduct is a dangerous and some times deadly mix of posionous air. The small particles that can exisit in the air for inefinate periods of time, most the time for several weeks can travel for miles. The particles are sometimes smaller then ten microns in diameter and are able to reach deep within the lungs. When particles become smaller then 10 microns they are also able to enter the blood stream, irritating the lung tissue and carry with them toxic substances such as heavy metals and pollutants.