World of Energy

Energy is another word for power. It makes things move and machines work. Itprovides us with light and we use it to heat and cool our houses and offices, to cook our food, and to transport people and goods.

Sources of energy

Almost all energy on earth today comes directly or indirectly from the sun. Over millions of years the sun has given plants light and heat which they need in order to grow. When trees and plants decay they turn into the fossil fuels we use today: coal, petroleum, natural gas and others.

About 85 % of all the energy we consume today comes from fossil fuels. However, we don’t have enough to last forever. People burn more and more fossil fuels and eventually the supply will run out. They also pollute our atmosphere and contribute to global warming. So, over the past decades, scientists have been looking for other sources of energy to replace these fossil fuels.

Some of these new sources of energy have been used for many years, like wind and water power or heat that comes from the earth.

 

Words

• contribute =add to; also lead to
• decade = a time of ten years
• decay = to be slowly destroyed by nature
• eventually = slowly , as time goes on
• fossil fuels = forms of energy like coal or oil that have been produced by dead plants or animals over millions of years
• global warming = the increase in the atmosphere’s temperature that is caused by carbon dioxide
• goods = things that are produced so that they can be sold
• however = but
• natural gas = gas that comes from the earth and is used for energy
• pollute = to make dirty
• provide = give
• replace = to use instead of something
• scientist =a person who is trained in science
• source =place where something comes form
• supply =reserve