Renewable Resource

Renewable resources are resources, which can’t be finished since they were created in such a way. Thus, although people use them, they can be called sustainable. They’re wind, biomass, sun, etc.

Renewable resources are the crucial element of the future life since they’re believed to become an excellent replacement for the finite resources. Moreover, renewable resources are regarded as something not as dangerous for nature as non-renewable ones.

What Renewable Resources do we use

Renewable resources that are regarded as inexhaustible are geothermal heat, the wind and the sun. Water, however, has its certain limits. It’s a renewable resource until precipitation exists. As soon as precipitation disappears, extra conservation efforts in order to keep water supplies are required.

For the rest of the resources, they’re believed to be renewable. Although the renewal may require some time and extra work from people, it’s possible to maintain their renewable status. For example, it can be precious metals. The most precious of them are regarded as renewable since they can be used more than one time. After the first usage it may be recycled and made into something once again.

Renewable resources came into our life many years ago. For instance, fossil fuels were widely used more than 100 years ago at the end of the 1800s. How many years have wood and hydropower been used by people is hard to count. Actually, 30 years ago wood and hydropower were two of the most used renewable energy resources. In addition, many sources are used every year to figure out how to implement renewable energy in a mass usage.

Types of Renewable Resources

Sun. Sun is one of the most well known renewable resources. The energy produced by it is called solar energy. It came into usage many years ago as people needed the source to heat water and houses, cook food, etc. Nowadays, technologies to use solar energy are more advanced. People created many mechanisms to convert solar radiation into something that is possible to use.

The most popular mechanisms are solar photovoltaic panels, or solar cells. They’re widely used in every place where there is enough sunlight to generate it into energy. People put such mechanisms into their cars or on the roofs of their houses. Thus, electricity for many places may be provided.

There are some limits, for sure. Sun can’t shine for the whole day. Moreover, in different places sunlight is available for different periods of time and for different periods of time. Such geographic and climate reasons impose limits on using solar energy.

Biomass. Biomass is a renewable material, which is considered organic, it may generate energy. The generated energy is called chemical energy. In order to get it biomass incurs photosynthesis. The resource comprises such things as wood and its waste, waste paper, cotton waste, sewage, etc.

While biomass is the whole group of organic materials, biofuel is the source of energy produced from these materials. Generally, biofuel is the source for transportation fuels. However, sometimes it’s utilized for heating purposes and producing electricity. Lately, biofuel turned out to be a good replacement for non-renewable resources. Thus, instead of natural gas or coal, biofuel may be used.

It’s worth noting that prices for biofuel are far from affordable, however, it’s believed to get better with the price growth for fossil fuels.

Geothermal. This renewable resource utilizes the heat of earth in order to produce energy. For example, in some countries hot springs are a means of bathing. This kind of energy is the energy thanks for which the district heating system works. For this purpose the heat (just like water) is transferred into buildings in order to provide people with a heat within cold seasons.

Electricity is produced not only by means of solar and wind energy, geothermal energy is used for such purposes as well. However, power plants can’t be kept in the same condition as wind farms, thus, power plants, which use geothermal energy, are located deep underground.

Water. Energy that is generated with the help of water power is called hydropower. Water was used even long before people found out that it can be a source for electricity production. Before it transformed paddle wheels to mill grain, etc. However, there are several limits as well. One of them is that it highly depends on precipitation and quantity of water. In case there are constant droughts, it isn’t hard to use hydropower, it becomes impossible.

Wind. Wind energy couldn’t be created without the sun. The air above surfaces is different from the one above water, it’s warmer above surfaces. Thus, when cold air and warm air are mixed, the wind is created. Earlier, wind energy was used in the windmills. It was extremely useful to catch the energy and with its power to pump water from wells. Nowadays, windmills aren’t that popular, however, people in farming areas use them to give water to their livestock.

Wind plants are more popular nowadays. With the help of such plants much electricity is produced in order to provide people with it. Plants’ work mechanism isn’t difficult. There are special turbine blades, which wind needs to flow in order to run an electric generator, thus, generating electricity.

Generally, wind farms don’t pollute the environment. They don’t even require to be cooled with the help of water. However, they surely may negatively affect. For example, in case the lubricating fluid leaks, it may contaminate the environment. Moreover, such farms influence bird life.

Comparison of Renewable and non-renewable resources

The main difference between renewable and nonrenewable resources is their ability to replenish. While renewable resources can’t be depleted, non-renewable ones can and they are depleted. Once they’re depleted, they can’t be replenished. Thus, a problem appears, with a growing population the more resources are required to maintain a decent life level and the lack of resources isn’t a fairy tale anymore.

The bad thing about renewable resources is that you can’t use it for producing energy whenever you want. For example, it’s impossible to generate solar energy during the night. Also, it’s difficult to generate solar energy during winter in some countries since the daytime is exceedingly short. On the contrary, non-renewable resources may be used for the whole day unless they’re finished or there is no appropriate facility to use them.

The good thing about renewable resources is that they’re infinite and replenished naturally. Non-renewable resources are regarded as finite ones since nature is able to create it, but it requires much time to recreate it in the same amount it was.

Also, it’s believed that renewable resources don’t impact negatively on the environment as non-renewable resources do. Harmful emissions from generating energy from non-renewable resources are great threats to life on earth.