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Fossil Fuels means coal, oil and natural gas, which are a non-renewable source of energy which were formed from plants and animals that lived up to 300 million years ago.  Fossil Fuels are found in deposits beneath the Earth.  The fuels are burned to release the chemical energy that is stored within this resource.  Over 85% of global energy demands are met by the combustion of Fossil Fuels.

Large plants and animals, many of which were ocean dwellers, that lived in the early history of Earth quite naturally eventually died and the organisms carcasses decomposed many on the bottom of seabeds.  Scientists believe that pressure, heat, and a long period time transformed them into Fossil Fuels.

Beds of organic plants and animal remains mixed with silt and mud formed layers.  Over time, mineral sedimentation formed on top of the organisms, entombing the plants and animals decomposing remains in rock.  As this occurred, pressure and temperature increased.  These conditions facilitated organic material breaking down into the simpler form of hydrocarbons: chains of carbon and hydrogen ranging from simple configuration to complex compounds.  Extreme pressure forced oil and gas (various mixtures of hydrocarbons) upwards towards the surface.

Fossil Fuels are made of hydrocarbons (two elements - hydrogen and carbon) which can create many, many different compounds with unique stored energy characteristics contained in the atomic bonds.  The original source of this energy is all the solar energy that the prehistoric organisms trapped in their bodies eons ago.  Alas, our method to make use of this massive mucky compost heap is to burn it.