Resources
Renewable Resources
Renewable resources are resources that can be replenished or replaced at or near their rate of use. Do not confuse renewable with reusable. Reusing is recycling and some nonrenewable resources can be recycled and, thus, reused. Renewable resources include: solar energy from the Sun; hydroelectric energy from falling water; wind energy from differential heating of the planet; geothermal energy from the internal heat of the Earth; and biomass from living organisms being processed or decomposing into a usable fuel. However, though these are considered renewable, it does not mean that they are perfect energy resources in terms of availability, cost, usability, and non-polluting. Below, I have listed these renewable resources with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Understand that this list refers to renewable energy resources and does not take into consideration all renewable resources such as fresh water (which I consider to be in the same boat as soil...see below).
Renewable resources are resources that can be replenished or replaced at or near their rate of use. Do not confuse renewable with reusable. Reusing is recycling and some nonrenewable resources can be recycled and, thus, reused. Renewable resources include: solar energy from the Sun; hydroelectric energy from falling water; wind energy from differential heating of the planet; geothermal energy from the internal heat of the Earth; and biomass from living organisms being processed or decomposing into a usable fuel. However, though these are considered renewable, it does not mean that they are perfect energy resources in terms of availability, cost, usability, and non-polluting. Below, I have listed these renewable resources with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Understand that this list refers to renewable energy resources and does not take into consideration all renewable resources such as fresh water (which I consider to be in the same boat as soil...see below).
Advantages
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Disadvantages
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Solar
Hydroelectric
Wind
Geothermal
Biomass
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Free energy from the Sun
Free energy from falling water; gravity pulls water downhill
Free secondary energy from the Sun; Sun heats the atmosphere and creates air pressure systems which causes the wind to blow
Free energy from the naturally hot interior of the Earth
Created by processing vegetation which can be regrown as needed
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Equipment is expensive and doesn't work at night or on cloudy days
Dams cannot be built everywhere and causes flooding behind the dam
Equipment is expensive and needs a fairly constant wind; also harms wildlife
Limited accessibility; must be built in a volcanically active area to easily access the escaping heat
Requires land for crops to not produce food in a growing population; produces greenhouse gases
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Nonrenewable Resources
Nonrenewable resources cannot be replenished or it takes too long for them to replenish. For example: uranium cannot be replenished as it is made in the explosion of a supernova; however, coal is currently being made right now...unfortunately for us, the coal we currently use is made from plants that lived about 300 million years ago. Such realities make it virtually impractical and impossible to solely rely on these resources for our energy needs.
The most well known of these nonrenewable resources are the so-called fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. These fuels derive from ancient organisms and are, thus, completely organic in origin. No, oil does not come from dinosaurs, but it does come from small and microscopic marine organisms that sank to the bottom of the ocean and turned into the carbon-rich sludge we call oil. Coal (as mentioned earlier) comes from ancient plants buried rapidly and heated over an immense measure of time. Natural gas (aka methane) comes from the natural decomposition of organic remains and is often found associated with oil and coal.
Other nonrenewable energy resources include nuclear energy from splitting uranium and releasing the energy of the atom.
As with renewable resources, there are advantages and disadvantages to each of these and they will be addressed below. Also, I will break down the formation of coal from plant to energy source.
Nonrenewable resources cannot be replenished or it takes too long for them to replenish. For example: uranium cannot be replenished as it is made in the explosion of a supernova; however, coal is currently being made right now...unfortunately for us, the coal we currently use is made from plants that lived about 300 million years ago. Such realities make it virtually impractical and impossible to solely rely on these resources for our energy needs.
The most well known of these nonrenewable resources are the so-called fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. These fuels derive from ancient organisms and are, thus, completely organic in origin. No, oil does not come from dinosaurs, but it does come from small and microscopic marine organisms that sank to the bottom of the ocean and turned into the carbon-rich sludge we call oil. Coal (as mentioned earlier) comes from ancient plants buried rapidly and heated over an immense measure of time. Natural gas (aka methane) comes from the natural decomposition of organic remains and is often found associated with oil and coal.
Other nonrenewable energy resources include nuclear energy from splitting uranium and releasing the energy of the atom.
As with renewable resources, there are advantages and disadvantages to each of these and they will be addressed below. Also, I will break down the formation of coal from plant to energy source.
Coal
Oil
Natural Gas
Nuclear
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Advantages
Abundant, cheap, and easy to use
Cheap (for now) and easy to use
Abundant, cheaper, cleaner than other fossil fuels, and easy to use
Does not pollute the atmosphere; a lot of energy from small amount
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Disadvantages
Pollution: greenhouse gases, heavy metals, acid rain
Running out rapidly; pollution: greenhouse gases, oil spills
Pollution: greenhouse gases; it IS a greenhouse gas about 25 times more potent than CO2
Pollution: thermal pollution in waterways and toxic radioactive waste
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Coal formed from ancient plant material about 300 million years ago. At that time, there was no way for bacteria or fungi to break down or decompose a substance called lignin in plants. So, plants just died and sat on the ground without decomposing much. Eventually, it got buried and trapped all of that carbon in the ground. Over time, the carbon in the plants turned, first, into peat. Peat is a gooey tar-like substance harvested in Great Britain as fuel for heating homes. People dig it out of the ground and dry it in bricks, then burn it. Peat is very dirty; full of soot and ash. Should the peat stay in the ground for a longer amount of time, the Earth's interior heats into lignite. Lignite is sometimes called "brown coal" because of its color. It's woodier than coal and far dirtier. In some areas of the world, it is the only source of fuel, but it produces more pollution than coal because it is a lower quality resource. If lignite remains in the ground, it will eventually turn to bituminous coal or "soft coal." Bituminous coal is the most common coal used throughout the world. It is the most abundant variety found here in Virginia is the primary resource for coal-fired power plants. However, it is still dirty in that it produces a lot of ash and other pollutants, though not nearly to the degree that the lower quality lignite or peat produce. Finally, if the coal is left in the ground and experiences enough heat and pressure to transform bituminous coal, it turns into anthracite coal. Anthracite coal, or "hard coal," burns longer and hotter than bituminous and is the most valued by power companies. Unfortunately, it, too, is dirty. All coal varieties produce pollution in the form of greenhouse gases and sulfur compounds which raise our global temperatures and produce acid rain. Also, most coal is found associated with heavy metals like lead and mercury. These toxic metals are burned and released into the atmosphere where they eventually find their way into our bodies through food, water, or air. We have the ability to make coal cleaner, but we'll never make it completely clean.
Soil
Soil is a nonrenewable, renewable resource. I call it both because soil can be replenished in relatively short timespans. However, quality soil capable of supporting large populations requires thousands of years to develop. Therefore, it is both. Rich, quality soil is not available everywhere. Soil requires four things to be called soil: weathered rock, organic matter, water, and air. The type of parent rock forming soil or the availability of organic matter or the amount of water present can have dramatic impacts of the quality and type of soil.
Soil is a nonrenewable, renewable resource. I call it both because soil can be replenished in relatively short timespans. However, quality soil capable of supporting large populations requires thousands of years to develop. Therefore, it is both. Rich, quality soil is not available everywhere. Soil requires four things to be called soil: weathered rock, organic matter, water, and air. The type of parent rock forming soil or the availability of organic matter or the amount of water present can have dramatic impacts of the quality and type of soil.
Horizon - The O horizon is the upper most layer of soil made of leaf litter and humus (not to be confused with hummus). Humus is the decayed organic material in soil.
A Horizon - The A horizon is also known as topsoil. This is the most important horizon as it provides plants with minerals and organic matter. B Horizon - The B horizon is also known as subsoil. This layer is approximately a half organic/half weathered rock mix, though leaning more toward weathered rock. C Horizon - The C horizon is also known as regolith. This layer is mostly weathered rock with very little organics. Bedrock - This is the parent rock from which the weathered material originates. |