Renewable and Non Renewable Resourcess

Renewable and Non- Renewable resources

You use Earth’s resources every day. When you eat cereal with milk for breakfast, you use resources from plants and from animals. When you ride the bus to school, you use energy (fuel) resources. When you take a drink of lemonade or iced tea, you use water resources.

A resource is anything on Earth that humans use. We can use some kinds of resources over and over. Other kinds of resources can run out.

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What are renewable resources?

Renewable resources can be replaced in our lifetime by natural processes. Some renewable resources, such as plants and animals, provide food for humans. Other renewable resources, such as sunlight and wind, provide energy.

• Sunlight: Sunlight is a renewable resource. The Sun will continue to shine for billions of years. We can use energy from the Sun in many important ways. Solar panels capture sunlight and turn it into

electricity. Humans use this electricity to power homes and businesses.

• Air: Wind can be used to create electricity, too.

Large windmills, called turbines, spin in fastmoving wind. The movement of the turbine’s blades creates electricity.

• Water: Humans cannot survive without freshwater. The freshwater we use is replaced by water cycle.Water is also a source of energy. Dams along rivers can use moving water to create electricity. The movement of water during tides can also provide energy.

Multiple Choice

True or False: Renewable resources CAN'T be replaced in our lifetime

• True

• False

What are non-renewable resources?
Non-renewable resources have a limited amount and natural processes cannot replace them in a human’s lifetime. Many minerals (such as metals such as aluminum and iron) that we mine from the earth are non-renewable resources. These resources take a very long time to form. When we use these resources too quickly, they can run out because there is not enough time to replace them. A group of non-renewable resources, called fossil fuels, include coal, oil, and natural gas. They are named fossil fuels because they form from organisms that have died.

Multiple Choice

True or False: Non- Renewable resources can be replaced quickly during our lifetime.

• True

• False

Conservation
How can we conserve renewable and non-renewable resources? Non-renewable resources cannot be replaced in your lifetime. If we use all the coal, oil, and natural gas on Earth, there will be none left. It will take millions of years to replace these resources. How can we conserve, or save, non-renewable resources? One solution is to use less coal, oil, and natural gas. Here are some ways we can use less of them: use public transportation instead of driving a car (this way, there are fewer vehicles using gasoline), turn the lights off when you leave a room, and use fabric bags instead of plastic bags at the grocery store. Renewable resources also must be conserved. For example, trees can be used to make fuel, paper, and lumber. But what happens if you cut down all the trees in a forest? It will take many years for all of the trees to grow back. Humans should use some but not all of the renewable resources in an area. We should replace the resources we use as quickly as possible. For example, we should plant new trees to replace those that are cut down.

Multiple Choice

True Or False: In order to conserve our natural resources we need to use them all up.

• True

• False

Categorize

Options (8)

Trees

Plants

Animals

Wind

Coal

Natural Gas

Minerals

Oil

Organize these options into the right categories

Renewable Resources

Non-Renewable Resources