Energy sources are classified as nonrenewable because they

do not form or replenish in a short period of time.

Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind replenish
naturally in a short period of time.

The four major nonrenewable energy sources are:

- Crude oil - Natural gas

- Coal - Uranium (nuclear energy)

Nonrenewable energy sources come out of the ground as liquids, gases, and solids. We use
crude oil to make liquid petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating
oil. Propane and other hydrocarbon gas liquids, such as butane and ethane, are found in
natural gas and crude oil.

All fossil fuels are nonrenewable, but not all nonrenewable energy sources are fossil
fuels

Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed
from the buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

Uranium ore, a solid, is mined and converted to a fuel used at nuclear power plants.
Uranium is not a fossil fuel, but it is classified as a nonrenewable fuel.

Renewable energy is energy that is collected

from renewable resources, which are naturally
replenished on a human timescale, such
as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal
heat.[2] Renewable energy often provides energy in four
important areas: electricity generation, air and water
heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-
grid) energy services

 Biomass is a renewable organic matter, and can

include biological material derived from living,
or recently living organisms, such as wood,
waste, and alcohol fuels.

Wood energy is derived both from harvested wood as a

fuel and from wood waste products. Waste energy can be
generated from municipal waste, manufacturing waste,
and landfill gas. Biomass alcohol fuel, or ethanol, is
derived almost
exclusively from
corn.

 Solar Power

The sun will be a source of energy for billions of

years. The current technology to capture this energy
includes photovoltaic panels, solar collectors and
thin-film solar sheeting. The solar cells turn sunlight
into electricity directly, so there is no need for a
generator. It is a clean, non-polluting source of
energy.
The challenges that this renewable energy source has include:

 Cost of the solar panels is still relatively high compared to other forms of energy
 Amount of energy generated by the cells is a product of insolation, or how much sun
reaches the cells
 Storage cell (battery) technology needs to advance to hold electricity to cover
days of little to no sunshine

 Geothermal Energy

This is the use of heated water and steam from the

Earth to run power stations, which turn the steam into
electricity. California has more than 40 geothermal
power stations producing five percent of that state’s
needs. The Philippines, Iceland and El Salvador are
all generating more than 25 percent of their
electricity with geothermal plants.

Some of the challenges with this energy source are:

 Plants are expensive to build

 Location of the plants is limited to the most geothermally active areas

 Hydroelectric Power

This uses flowing water to move turbines which

generate electricity. Hydropower provides 20 percent
of the world’s energy needs, according to the United
States Geological Survey.

There are several issues regarding the continued use

of hydropower:

 Rivers must be dammed, which can have a severe

impact on the land and wildlife
 This impact also affects communities that rely on fish that must travel through the
dams
 The costs to build these dams is huge, and the return is slow
There are several motivations for learning about these options and how you may be able to
use them in your home energy plan, including:

 They protect the environment from further damage

 They use resources that will not run out

 Wind power is the use of air flow through wind

turbines to mechanically power generators
for electric power. Wind power, as an
alternative to burning fossil fuels, is
plentiful, renewable, widely
distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse
gas emissions during operation, consumes no
water, and uses little land.