
Natural resources such as , (crude oil) and take thousands of years to form naturally and cannot be replaced as fast as they are being consumed. It is projected that fossil-based resources will eventually become too costly to harvest and humanity will need to shift its reliance to such as solar or wind power. An alternative hypothesis is that carbon-based fuel is virtually inexhaustible in human terms, if o.

The Sun is the Solar System's star and by far its most massive component. Its large mass (332,900 ), which comprises 99.86% of all the mass in the Solar System, produces temperatures and densities in its high enough to sustain nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium. This releases an enormous amount of , mostly into as peaking in .