In broad thermodynamic terms, the distinction between solar energy and energy derived from fossil fuel is artificial. Fossil Fuel molecules represent the decayed remains of plants. All of the energy these fossil fuels contain once resided in the sun and was, so to speak, trapped by plants here on Earth through the process of photosynthesis, whereupon it was housed, principally, within the carbohydrate molecules of which the plants were composed. The process of burning unleashes that energy, and when we run our lights, factories, and automobiles by burning fossil fuels __________.

Which of the following is the most logical completion of the passage above