Difference Between Renewable And Non Renewable Energy

Most of the energy that we use comes from fossil fuels like petroleum and coal that provide electricity and gas to power our growing energy needs. These fossil fuels, currently providing most of our home energy needs are finite resources, which mean that, they will eventually run out. Furthermore, the world’s population is growing rapidly. Countries are becoming more industrialised and are using notable amount of energy. Individuals are consuming nearly twice as much as energy as they were using 30 years ago. In Australia itself, the total amount of energy consumed by households has increased over the past two decades and is forecast to increase. This could be due to the dependence of our standard of living on easily available energy. Between

Despite their limited supply, nonrenewable energy resources are a valuable part of the energy system. They are familiar, reliable sources of energy we depend on. Most of the energy our country currently uses comes from nonrenewable energy sources.

Everyone uses a lot of power for lighting, heating, machines, movements, and so much more. All of that energy has to come from an energy supply. Some energy resources are renewable, while others are non-renewable. Energy has various forms and is a very essential part of our everyday lives.

Australia is self-sufficient in energy resources for electricity generation. The black coal is used to supply electricity in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, while the brown coal is used in Victoria. Australia also has hydro centrals, used to produce hydro-electric energy for Tasmania. States such as South Australia and Northern Territory

Whilst it may seem a “no-brainer” to cease investment in non-renewable power and transfer our effort, resources and investment into developing renewable energy sources, the reality is that we have become so reliant and dependent upon non-renewable energy – particularly fossil fuels – that we must continue to use, develop, and invest in such energy to maintain the living standards that we enjoy today. In our short to medium-term future, and in spite of our ever-increasing scientific knowledge about the environmental price that we pay in using non-renewable energy, we must continue to invest in it. Let me explain why.

As a first world country, Australia is one of the main counties that use tons and tons of electricity. 73% of Australian community uses the electricity generated from Coal and 13% of the Australian community uses the electricity produced using natural gas and only the other 14% uses renewable energy sources such as wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy etc. Therefore a majority of Australians use non-renewable energy sources. The total amount of energy used by the Australian community is around 226.9 billion kWh per year. Therefore, 195.134 billion kWH of energy is generated from non-renewable energy and only 31.766 billion kWH of energy is generated by renewable energy in Australia. To produce the total amount of energy

Energy is the capacity of a physical system to perform work. If there is no energy, then all systems as we know will not work. Americans rely on energy to heat their homes, charge their phone, and cook their food. The United States of America is highly dependable on a source of energy that has the ability to become depleted. Coal, oil, and natural gas are the prime resources used in creating energy, all of which are fossil fuels. Not only can fossil fuels deplete but when burned they leave a harmful carbon dioxide emission which can penetrate the earth’s ozone layer, resulting in environmental dilemmas. Renewable energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass provides advantages for our health, climate, and economy.

A renewable energy source is a source of energy that can be renewed or replaced like solar or wind energy, these are examples of renewable energy sources because they can be replaced. Solar energy, the sun will never run out (until billions of years later) and wind energy is renewable because we can’t run out of wind. Now, non-renewable energy. Coal, oil, gas these are all examples of non-renewable energy sources. They are non-renewable energy sources because once you use it, you cannot replace it. So renewable energy is energy that can be replaced and non-renewable energy is energy that cannot be replaced.

In the USA coal and natural gas produce 70% of our energy. “During the 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama announced a new U.S. energy target: produce 80 percent of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035” (Kenward). As of 2011, 20% of electricity comes from nuclear and the other 10% from Renewable sources, like wind and hydropower. Wind is created when

Renewable Energy is defined as: a renewable natural resource or source of energy, such as water, wind, or solar power (Oxford English Dictionary). There are those that believe that our nation should abandon the use of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal, and switch to renewable energy sources. Although the change could yield many benefits, I believe that renewable energy is a not viable alternative for our nation’s energy future because it would create an unfavorable environmental impact, it is not as reliable, and it would be too costly.

The term, “non-renewable energy,” is at its most basic form, means that the sources of energy will eventually one day run out and not replenish itself. Non-renewable energy comes in many forms. For example: coal, crude oil and natural gas. These sources are categorized as fossil fuels, meaning that they were formed in the past due to natural processes from dead organisms. Non-renewable energy has been proven to be very beneficial to the US, however, many people argue the negatives are not worth the benefits.

Today, global energy consumption heavily relies on fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, in 2015, Australia relied 86% of the electricity generation on traditional non-renewable energy sources (73% coal, 13% natural gas).1 The burning of these fossil fuels has been very closely associated with carbon and greenhouse gas emission, resulting changes in the climate such as global warming and extreme weathers. The CO2 emissions had increased from estimated 198 megatons in 1850 to an astonishing 32274 megatons in 2011. The CO2 emission increased 160 times in just the last 160 years.2 As such, the exploration of new, clean renewable energy sources becomes increasing important. To meet the ever increasing demand for energy, renewable energy resources like solar, wind, geothermal, tidal wave and biomass have been introduced and successfully made up almost 22% of the global electricity generation in 2013, and the IEA predicted that this number is going to increase to at least 26% by 2020.

There are many different energy sources out there today, both renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. Renewable energy is energy sources that can be replenished over the course of time. Non-renewable energy is energy that will not be replenished over a long period of time (it can take up to 300-360 million years to recreate. (Tiwari, 2011, p.11)). By 2035, nonrenewable won’t be able to be used, or will it? Will renewable energy be sufficient than nonrenewable energy in the future, it now?

Oil, one of the important nonrenewable resource, are refined into petroleum products like gasoline. The United States uses so much petroleum for energy that in “2014, total U.S. petroleum consumption was about 19 million barrels per day” (EIA, 2016). As long as Americans drive vehicles that require petroleum products people will have to use this nonrenewable resource. Coal, another nonrenewable resource, is used for steel production. “Global steel production is dependent on coal. 70% of the steel produced today uses coal”, and that means that many public and private buildings include steel when creating them (World Coal Ass 2013). These are nonrenewable sources, therefore meaning that they might run out in the near future. Renewable sources are always available and these sources might be the

These energy sources are renewable since they are derived from replenish able sources. Electricity is produced using hydroelectric power. This is the use of water that is turned into electricity as it is put through a turbine. As long as there is an adequate supply of water, the electricity supply will be available. The fuel that I use to operate my car also comes from a renewable source since the earth replenishes the materials used to produce fuel and natural gas. The constant consumption, however, may lead to a shortage of materials in the long run, because these natural components need time to replenish themselves.