Name: Laura Salinas
Renewable vs. Non-Renewable
Resources
Energy resources are all around us.
They are things that people use. They
come from nature. We need them to
survive. For example, they keep us warm
and help us cook food. We also use
them
to do things that make life easier,
like
driving cars. These resources fall into
two
c
at
eg
o
ries
:
n
o
n
-ren
ew
able
an
d
renewable.
Confused?
Let’s take a closer look.
Non-renewable energy resources are limited. There is only a certain amount of them.
They take a long time to be replenished. For example, coal, oil, and natural gas are non-
renewable. Once we use or burn through them, they’re gone forever. It takes millions of
years to make more.
Renewable resources are different. They are replenished by nature fairly quickly.
They rely on Earth’s natural processes. Examples include plants, solar power, wind, and
water. You can imagine that it’s impossible to “use up” all the sunlight from the sun. And
those rays are useful when heating up a building or a swimming pool. The same goes for
water. It never fully disappears. The water cycle keeps the flow going. It may evaporate.
But it still exists in gas form. Soon, condensation forms in the clouds. We're all familiar with
the part that happens after that: it rains! Then the water cycle begins again.
For hundreds of years, humans have used renewable resources. They used wood for
cooking and heating. They used wind and water for milling grain.
Then about 150 years
ago, scientists discovered the power of fossil fuel. Energy could be taken out of the fossils
of ancient plants and animals. Soon, coal, oil, and natural gas replaced things like wood
and
