We say that they are kinetically slow. Some energy is sacrificed to produce more energy overall. The spark plug in your car does this for your gasoline. Reaction rates can be altered in many ways. For example, increasing the surface area of the fuel will help speed up the reaction, increasing the temperature can too.
Catalysts also speed up reactions by lowering the activation energy.
In a recent advance toward cleaner fuel emisssions, coal is crushed into a fine powder and blown into a stream of air, because the reaction occurs quickly on the high surface area of the coal, the reaction occurs at a lower temperature and less NOx are produced. Also limestone can be ground and added to the coal powder to scrub out the SOx. Created millions of years ago by plants which soaked up the prehistoric sunshine. The Earth s supplies of fossil fuels are limited and are non-renewable. The Industrial Revolution really kicked off when coal was discovered and wood was replaced.