Gasoline, a fossil fuel, is what powers the engine in your car, and as such, has become an essential part of life. Of course we buy it at gas stations without thinking twice, but before we can buy it there, it had to be produced and delivered. So what is it about fossil fuels? An issue is that fossil fuels are nonrenewable energy sources. Every year the world's demand for this energy source increases, leaving more and more of this energy source depleted. Although this has been an issue for many decades, the danger of an energy deficiency is unlikely to be solved anytime soon.

Fossil fuels come from beneath the Earth's surface in the form of ancient plant an animal remains, or fossils, having taken millions of years to form. This includes coal, gas and oil. The Carboniferous Period (approximately 354 to 290 million years ago) is considered to be the age when most of the fossils we use today as energy sources were formed.

Scientists don't know exactly how the formation process took place, but they do know that pressure and heat, combined with a very long period of time were the main factors of fossil fuel formation.