Energy, in physics, the capacity for doing work.

It may exist in potential, kinetic, thermal,

electrical, chemical, nuclear, or other various forms. There are, moreover, heat and work—i.e., energy in
the process of transfer from one body to another. After it has been transferred, energy is always
designated according to its nature. Hence, heat transferred may become thermal energy, while work
done may manifest itself in the form of mechanical energy.

A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy
as heat energy or to be used for work. Fuels are also used in the cells of organisms in a process known as
cellular respiration, where organic molecules are oxidized to release usable energy. A fuel is also a
combustible matter used to maintain fire, as coal, wood, oil, or gas, in order to create heat or power.

The fossil fuel coal was also used as long ago as 1,000 B.C is. But it wasn’t until the Industrial
Revolution that started in England in the mid-1700s that coal began to replace biomass as the primary
source of energy. This completely changed how the world operated. At the same time, the human
population began to grow in leaps and bounds, right along with energy consumption.

Biomass is organic material that comes from plants and animals, and it is a renewable source of
energy. Biomass contains stored energy from the sun. Plants absorb the sun's energy in a process called
photosynthesis. When biomass is burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as heat. Biomass
can be burned directly or converted to liquid biofuels or biogas that can be burned as fuels.

The coal we burn today got its start some 300 million years ago. Back then, dinosaurs roamed
the Earth. But they didn’t get incorporated into coal. Instead, plants in bogs and swamps died. As this
greenery sunk to the bottom of those wet areas, it partially decayed and turned into peat. Those
wetlands dried out. Other materials then settled down and covered the peat. With heat, pressure and
time, that peat transformed into coal. To extract coal, people now have to dig deeply into the earth. One
of the most widespread beliefs about fossil fuels — oil, natural gas and coal — is that these substances
started out as dinosaurs. There’s even an oil company, Sinclair, that uses an Apatosaurus as its icon. That
dino-source story is, however, a myth. What is true: These fuels got their start long, long ago — at a
time when those “terrible lizards” still walked the Earth.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fuel

https://www.britannica.com/science/energy

https://www.ecology.com/2011/09/03/the-history-of-energy-use/

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/biomass/

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/explainer-where-fossil-fuels-come