Are fossil fuels actually a non-renewable resource?

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Are fossil fuels actually a non-renewable resource? I understand they are generated deep underground. Is the Earth constantly making more of this stuff or not?

Thanks, Slowmutant.

The history of fossil fuels dates to hundreds of millions of years ago even before dinosaurs. “The age they were formed is called the Carboniferous Period. It was part of the Paleozoic Era. Carboniferous gets its name from carbon, the basic element in coal and other fossil fuels” During this period, water was full of algae and the land was covered by swamps filled with trees and other leafy plants. Later, as the plants and trees died, they sank to the bottom of the waters and swamps and formed peat; peat is classified as a complex hydrocarbon which contains ring structures formed by partial decomposition in water of various plants . As peat was covered by sand, clay, and other minerals, it formed a rock called sediment. As rock continued to pile on top of more rock, it weighed the peat down. The pressure of the rock squeezed the water out of the peat and over millions of years it formed the three most commonly used fossil fuels of today: coal, natural gas, and oil.

(http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html).

so, unless there is another Carboniferous Period in the time between when we run out and when we need it, it is not available for renewing.

Merle

maybe in 200 million years we will be poured into somebody else's gas tank

That's inaccurate. As far as oil goes, sediment that will one day produce a source rock is being deposited as we speak. That's been the case, I suppose, since life has covered the planet. However, as far as humanity is concerned, it's not renewable as the geological conditions that cause a source rock to form need to act over vast periods of time. A similar thing could be said for coal.

Simply put, organic matter that becomes oil needs to be buried to a depth where it's hot enough for oil to form. I'm not sure exactly what that depth is, but it's at least several kilometres. When you consider that sedimentation/ subsidence may be less than a few millimetres per year, you get an idea of the timescales involved.

oh, OK! Thanks!
I think that is what I meant by "time between when we run out and when we need it"
I agree.

Merle

are we running out yet? i mean new fields are being discovered that are estimated to contain millions or sometimes billions of barrels.


i think the shotage is just a capitalization on the theory of peak oil and producing a shortage market that the oil companies can take advantage of.

Do you know what worldwide oil consumption is currently?

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/gifs/Fig5.gif

And new discoveries are often made in areas where it's technically challenging to extract, so more expensive.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/11/08/brazil.oil.ap/

well, I have been running for three weeks on a gallon of super unleaded and have about 3/4 of that gallon still in my scooter gas tank.

if I gotta, I ride a bus that runs on natural gas.

neither of these are renewable resources, but I am not using much of the non renewable.

Merle

Who needs rocks to make oil? Check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_depolymerization

I guess oil is a bit more renewable than we thought.

Syn fuels aren't oil, at least in any strict sense. So... Oil is renewable if the rate of use drops to something extraordinarily small compared to where it is now.