The positives (pros) and negatives (cons) of Fossil Fuels
For this levelled assessment you need to write a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron EITHER;
 Explaining why we should abandon the use of fossil fuels for either nuclear fuels or renewable fuels
OR
 Explaining why Britain should continue to use fossil fuels
You should include as many arguments as possible and include a range of persuasive writing styles and phrases.
You should outline both the positives and negatives of fossil fuels before coming to an EVIDENCE based
opinion.
To gain really great marks, you will need to research extra information to that given to you in class, and keep a
record of those information sources (book titles, web site addresses etc)
Tips from the English department! Use AAFORREEST;
A/A
ALLITERATION/AUDIENCE
INVOLVEMENT
F
FACTS
O
OPINIONS
R/R
REPETITION / RHETORICAL
QUESTION
E/E
EMOTIVE
LANGUAGE/EXAGGERATION
S
STATISTICS
T
THREE (RULE OF)
Words, questions and phrases to
use
Have you considered….?
I think this because….
The good thing for you in this is….
This brings huge benefits
because…
Why do we…..?
A huge benefit of this is……
This would be incredible
because….
This advantage links to ……
The alternative option …..is not
good because…
Some of the Pros and cons of using fossil fuels;
Fossil fuels also give out sulphur dioxide into the air, which after reacting
with the moisture in air, produces sulphuric acid and leads to acid rain.
Acid rain causes severe damage to the living as well as nonliving matter on
the earth.
Oil is often transported from one place to another by the means of sea route.
During this oil spills occur on the ocean surface and that causes severe harm to the
marine life.
Fossil fuels have a high calorific value. In other words, combustion of fossil
fuels generates a large amount of usable energy and are considered as high
efficiency fuels.
Prices for fossil fuels are going up as they run out.
The search for newer location for oil reserves is a highly expensive process
with a very low success rate. As a result, large amounts of money get wasted
in the process.
Coal is cheap and highly reliable source of energy.
Due to mining of the coalfields, landscapes spread over large areas are
being destroyed and cannot be used for any other purpose.
Coal is easy to transport from one place to another, and oil and gas can be
moved by pipelines
On burning of fossil fuels, large amount of carbon dioxide is released into the
atmosphere. This can cause global warming
Fossil fuels are stable in nature
Fossil fuels are non renewable source of energy and are being used up very fast.
Fossil fuels are more easily available as compared to any other fuels.
Fossil fuels generate millions of jobs world wide
Some of the by products obtained during processing of the fossil fuels are highly
toxic too.