Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources

A natural resource is anything from the Earth that people use, such as water, soil, minerals, sunlight, or fuels. Some of these are replaced quickly. Others take so long to form that, once used, they are gone for a very long time.

The difference between the two groups is not how useful they are. It is how fast they are replaced compared to how fast we use them.

Coal, petroleum (oil), and natural gas are called fossil fuels. They formed from the buried remains of plants and tiny living things that died hundreds of millions of years ago. Heat and pressure deep underground slowly turned those remains into fuel.

Because that process takes so long, fossil fuels cannot be replenished in a short period of time. When we burn them faster than the Earth can make more, the supply keeps shrinking.

Nuclear energy is released when atoms of uranium are split apart in a process called fission. A small amount of uranium can release a large amount of energy, which is used to make electricity.

Nuclear energy is also nonrenewable. Uranium is a metal mined from the ground, and there is only a limited amount. Once the uranium is used, it is gone.

Every resource is being used and replaced at the same time. If nature replaces it as fast as we use it, the supply holds steady, and the resource is renewable.

If we use it much faster than nature can replace it, the supply keeps shrinking, and the resource is nonrenewable. Coal forms over hundreds of millions of years, but we burn it in seconds, so the supply cannot keep up.

Earth's human population keeps growing. More people need more food, more clean water, more energy, and more materials to build homes and make products. As the number of people rises, the total demand for natural resources rises with it.

That demand has effects we can see. Meeting it means more farming, more mining, more drilling, and more waste, all of which change the air, water, and ecosystems around us. Even renewable resources can be strained if a growing population uses them faster than nature replaces them.

Two people can use very different amounts of resources. Per-capita consumption means the amount of resources one person uses. A household in a large home with two large vehicles uses more energy and materials than a household in a small home that bikes and walks.

The same pattern shows up in everyday products. Single-use plastics are made, used once, and thrown away. Reusable products are used many times before they wear out. The choices people make every day add up to how many resources they consume.

Renewable energy technologies make electricity without burning fossil fuels. Solar panels capture sunlight, wind turbines capture moving air, and hydroelectric dams capture flowing water. Using these in place of coal or gas reduces how much nonrenewable fuel we take from the Earth.

Efficient technologies do the same job using less energy. An LED bulb produces the same light as an old incandescent bulb while using a fraction of the energy. Energy-efficient appliances and electric vehicles also do more with less. Using less energy for the same task means fewer resources are consumed.

Conservation means using less and reusing more. Recycling turns used materials into new products instead of new raw materials. Reusable bottles and bags replace single-use items. Water-saving technologies, such as low-flow fixtures, cut how much water we use. Each choice lowers demand on natural resources.

For each pair, choose the option with the lower impact, the one that reduces resource consumption the most. You will get feedback right away.