Earth Sciences: Renewable and Non-Renewable

Earth Sciences: Renewable and Non-Renewable

We depend on Earth to supply us with many things - water, shelter and food just to name a few. How quickly the earth can regenerate the resources we use determines whether they are renewable or non-renewable resources.

Renewable Resources

Renewable resources are resources that are replenished by the environment over relatively short periods of time. This type of resource is much more desirable to use because often a resource renews so fast that it will have regenerated by the time you've used it up.

Solar Energy

Solar energy is one such resource because the sun shines all the time. Imagine trying to harness all of the sun's energy before it ran out! Wind energy is another renewable resource. You can't stop the wind from blowing any more than you can stop the sun from shining, which makes it easy to 'renew.'

Hydroelectric

Water is also sometimes considered a renewable resource. You can't really 'use up' water, but you also can't make more of it. There is a limited supply of water on Earth, and it cycles through the planet in various forms - as a liquid (our oceans), a solid (our polar ice caps and glaciers) and a gas (as clouds and water vapor).

Liquid water can be used to generate hydroelectric power, which we get from water flowing through dams. This is considered a renewable resource because we don't actually take the water out of the system to get electricity. Like sunshine and wind, we simply sit back and let the resource do all the work!

Multiple Choice

Why is hydroelectric energy from water considered a renewable resource?

• The water regenerates as it passes through the dam

• New water cannot be created

• The water is not actually taken out of the system

• It is impossible to use up all of the Earth's water

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy is a renewable resource that provides heat from the earth - 'geo' means 'earth' and 'thermal' means 'heat.' You know all of those volcanoes on Earth that spew hot lava when they erupt? That lava has got to come from somewhere, right? It's actually sitting underneath the earth's surface as incredibly hot rock and magma.

Biofuels

Biofuels are renewable resources that are fuels made from living organisms - literally biological fuels. Ethanol is a biofuel because it's derived from corn. Biodiesel is vehicle fuel made from vegetable oil, and I bet you didn't know that people can actually run their cars on used oil from restaurants! Firewood, animal dung and peat burned for heat and cooking purposes are also biofuels because they come from living (or once-living) organisms.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT an example of a renewable resource?

• wind

• water

• coal

• fish

Non-Renewable Resources

In contrast to renewable resources, non-renewable resources are resources that are not easily replenished by the environment. Let's think about this in terms of that ice cube maker again. Imagine that this time you don't have an automatic ice maker at home, you have to wait for someone to bring it to you, and they only do this once a month.

Fuels

The fuels we use to heat our homes and drive our cars are non-renewable resources because there is just no way that the earth can regenerate them in a usable time frame. Minerals are also considered non-renewable resources because, not only do they take millions of years of heat and pressure to form deep underground, but they're also found in a very limited quantity on Earth. Not all non-renewable resources are usable only once, though.

Recycling

Recycling is a great way to renew non-renewable resources because this is the process of making used materials usable again. Cardboard and paper come from trees, so instead of cutting down new trees, we can recycle paper once it's been used. The same is true for glass, some plastics and many metals, like aluminum and steel. So, make sure you recycle your cans and bottles, because if you throw them out in the trash, they're gone for good!

Multiple Choice

Why is recycling so important to the environment?

• It prevents the waste of both renewable and non-renewable resources

• It prevents non-renewable resources from being extracted from the ground

• It decreases the amount of time a renewable resource takes to regenerate

• It prevents the waste of non-renewable resources only

Multiple Choice

What is the main difference between renewable and non-renewable resources?

• How quickly they can regenerate.

• How they are used in our everyday lives.

• How long they can be stored.

• Where they are found on Earth.

Multiple Choice

Plants are a renewable resource that provide which of the following product(s) for our use?

• Shelter

• Food

• Energy

• Plants provide all of these products for our use