Monday 9 September 2019

Non Renewable Energy: Definition and Examples

Non Renewable Energy: Definition and Examples

Non Renewable Energy: Definition and Examples

Non Renewable Energy Definition

A non-renewable resource is a resource that does not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames. 

An example is carbon-based, organically-derived fuel. 

Another definition of non renewable energy can be told as something which is not renewable. At the same time, we mean that- 

  • Which increase the temperature of the atmosphere,
  • Which produces pollution on the earth, 
  • Which creat danger for living beings of the earth.
  • Which increase greenhouse gases.

Non Renewable Energy Examples

Some examples of the most common non-renewable energy resources are 

  • Oil
  • Fossil fuels
  • Natural gas
  • Coal

They are formed from fossils which took millions of years to turn into the resources we know today. 

That's why we call them non-renewable energy.


Can we define “renewable” in terms of its associated CO2 cycle?

There are differing views on this. CO2 is being absorbed constantly through plant life. 
As the plant life dies and decays, it captures the ingested CO2 in non-gaseous forms such as oil, coal, peat, grasses, methane, diamonds and so on. 

When we extract those forms and burn them, the CO2 is released and so the CO2 cycle starts over. 

The question about what is renewable is often framed as a question of how long the CO2 cycle of the associated energy source is. 

In the case of coal, for example, the CO2 cycle is millions of years long. 

That spells trouble for the planet because when we burn coal, we are releasing millions of tons of CO2 in seconds, which will take millions of years to be recaptured in the form of coal. 

When the emissions part of the CO2 cycle is many orders of magnitude shorter than the recapture part of the CO2 cycle, as it is with coal and methane, then the emissions stage overwhelms the recapture stage and contributes to a global atmospheric increase of CO2.

Many countries think biomass as a source of renewable energy because, we all know that, the timing of the recapture as well as emission stages are closely aligned. 

However, many environmental advocates strongly reject the idea that anything that emits CO2 can be considered renewable.

However, wind and solar do not inject or remove CO2 from the CO2 cycle, at least if you don’t count the manufacturing stage (which is now becoming a controversial issue in itself).

By the same token, neither does nuclear power since uranium decay does not enter the CO2 cycle either.

Many people believe that nuclear is not a source of renewable energy.

So, You can't find an universal definition of Renewable Energy.

Here, You can find out-