A non-renewable resource (also called a finite
resource) is a resource that does not renew
itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable
economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames.
An example is carbon-based, organically-derived
fuel.
The original organic material, with the aid
of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such
as oil or gas.
Earth minerals and metal ores, fossil fuels
(coal, petroleum, natural gas) and groundwater
in certain aquifers are all considered non-renewable
resources, though individual elements are
always conserved (except in nuclear reactions).
On the other hand, resources such as timber
(when harvested sustainably) and wind (used
to power energy conversion systems) are considered
renewable resources, largely because their
localized replenishment can occur within time
frames meaningful to humans.
== Earth minerals and metal ores ==
Earth minerals and metal ores are examples
of non-renewable resources.
The metals themselves are present in vast
amounts in Earth's crust, and their extraction
by humans only occurs where they are concentrated
by natural geological processes (such as heat,
pressure, organic activity, weathering and
other processes) enough to become economically
viable to extract.
These processes generally take from tens of
thousands to millions of years, through plate
tectonics, tectonic subsidence and crustal
recycling.
The localized deposits of metal ores near
the surface which can be extracted economically
by humans are non-renewable in human time-frames.
There are certain rare earth minerals and
elements that are more scarce and exhaustible
than others.
These are in high demand in manufacturing,
particularly for the electronics industry.
Most metal ores are considered vastly greater
in supply to fossil fuels, because metal ores
are formed by crustal-scale processes which
make up a much larger portion of the Earth's
near-surface environment, than those that
form fossil fuels which are limited to areas
where carbon-based life forms flourish, die,
and are quickly buried.
== Fossil fuels ==
Natural resources such as coal, petroleum
(crude oil) and natural gas take thousands
of years to form naturally and cannot be replaced
as fast as they are being consumed.
Eventually it is considered that fossil-based
resources will become too costly to harvest
and humanity will need to shift its reliance
to other sources of energy such as solar or
wind power, see renewable energy.
An alternative hypothesis is that carbon based
fuel is virtually inexhaustible in human terms,
if one includes all sources of carbon-based
energy such as methane hydrates on the sea
floor, which are vastly greater than all other
carbon based fossil fuel resources combined.
These sources of carbon are also considered
non-renewable, although their rate of formation/replenishment
on the sea floor is not known.
However their extraction at economically viable
costs and rates has yet to be determined.
At present, the main energy source used by
humans is non-renewable fossil fuels.
Since the dawn of internal combustion engine
technologies in the 19th century, petroleum
and other fossil fuels have remained in continual
demand.
As a result, conventional infrastructure and
transport systems, which are fitted to combustion
engines, remain prominent throughout the globe.
The continual use of fossil fuels at the current
rate is believed to increase global warming
and cause more severe climate change.
== Nuclear fuels ==
In 1987, the World Commission on Environment
and Development (WCED) an organization set
up by but independent from the United Nations
classified fission reactors that produce more
fissile nuclear fuel than they consume -i.e.
breeder reactors, and when it is developed,
fusion power, among conventional renewable
energy sources, such as solar and falling
water.
The American Petroleum Institute likewise
does not consider conventional nuclear fission
as renewable, but that breeder reactor nuclear
power fuel is considered renewable and sustainable,
before explaining that radioactive waste from
used spent fuel rods remains radioactive,
and so has to be very carefully stored for
up to a thousand years.
With the careful monitoring of radioactive
waste products also being required upon the
use of other renewable energy sources, such
as geothermal energy.The use of nuclear technology
relying on fission requires Naturally occurring
radioactive material as fuel.
Uranium, the most common fission fuel, and
is present in the ground at relatively low
concentrations and mined in 19 countries.
This mined uranium is used to fuel energy-generating
nuclear reactors with fissionable uranium-235
which generates heat that is ultimately used
to power turbines to generate electricity.As
of 2013 only a few kilograms (picture available)
of uranium have been extracted from the ocean
in pilot programs and it is also believed
that the uranium extracted on an industrial
scale from the seawater would constantly be
replenished from uranium leached from the
ocean floor, maintaining the seawater concentration
at a stable level.
In 2014, with the advances made in the efficiency
of seawater uranium extraction, a paper in
the journal of Marine Science & Engineering
suggests that with, light water reactors as
its target, the process would be economically
competitive if implemented on a large scale.Nuclear
power provides about 6% of the world's energy
and 13–14% of the world's electricity.
Nuclear energy production is associated with
potentially dangerous radioactive contamination
as it relies upon unstable elements.
In particular, nuclear power facilities produce
about 200,000 metric tons of low and intermediate
level waste (LILW) and 10,000 metric tons
of high level waste (HLW) (including spent
fuel designated as waste) each year worldwide.Issues
entirely separate from the question of the
sustainability of nuclear fuel, relate to
the use of nuclear fuel and the high-level
radioactive waste the nuclear industry generates
that if not properly contained, is highly
hazardous to people and wildlife.
The United Nations (UNSCEAR) estimated in
2008 that average annual human radiation exposure
includes 0.01 millisievert (mSv) from the
legacy of past atmospheric nuclear testing
plus the Chernobyl disaster and the nuclear
fuel cycle, along with 2.0 mSv from natural
radioisotopes and 0.4 mSv from cosmic rays;
all exposures vary by location.
natural uranium in some inefficient reactor
nuclear fuel cycles, becomes part of the nuclear
waste "once through" stream, and in a similar
manner to the scenario were this uranium remained
naturally in the ground, this uranium emits
various forms of radiation in a decay chain
that has a half-life of about 4.5 billion
years, the storage of this unused uranium
and the accompanying fission reaction products
have raised public concerns about risks of
leaks and containment, however the knowledge
gained from studying the Natural nuclear fission
reactor in Oklo Gabon, has informed geologists
on the proven processes that kept the waste
from this 2 billion year old natural nuclear
reactor that operated for hundreds of thousands
of years, from negatively impacting the surrounding
plant and animal life.
== Renewable resources ==
Natural resources, known as renewable resources,
are replaced by natural processes and forces
persistent in the natural environment.
There are intermittent and reoccurring renewables,
and recyclable materials, which are utilized
during a cycle across a certain amount of
time, and can be harnessed for any number
of cycles.
The production of goods and services by manufacturing
products in economic systems creates many
types of waste during production and after
the consumer has made use of it.
The material is then either incinerated, buried
in a landfill or recycled for reuse.
Recycling turns materials of value that would
otherwise become waste into valuable resources
again.
In the natural environment water, forests,
plants and animals are all renewable resources,
as long as they are adequately monitored,
protected and conserved.
Sustainable agriculture is the cultivation
of plant and animal materials in a manner
that preserves plant and animal ecosystems
and that can improve soil health and soil
fertility over the long term.
The overfishing of the oceans is one example
of where an industry practice or method can
threaten an ecosystem, endanger species and
possibly even determine whether or not a fishery
is sustainable for use by humans.
An unregulated industry practice or method
can lead to a complete resource depletion.The
renewable energy from the sun, wind, wave,
biomass and geothermal energies are based
on renewable resources.
Renewable resources such as the movement of
water (hydropower, tidal power and wave power),
wind and radiant energy from geothermal heat
(used for geothermal power) and solar energy
(used for solar power) are practically infinite
and cannot be depleted, unlike their non-renewable
counterparts, which are likely to run out
if not used sparingly.
The potential wave energy on coastlines can
provide 1/5 of world demand.
Hydroelectric power can supply 1/3 of our
total energy global needs.
Geothermal energy can provide 1.5 more times
the energy we need.
There is enough wind to power the planet 30
times over, wind power could power all of
humanity's needs alone.
Solar currently supplies only 0.1% of our
world energy needs, but there is enough out
there to power humanity's needs 4,000 times
over, the entire global projected energy demand
by 2050.Renewable energy and energy efficiency
are no longer niche sectors that are promoted
only by governments and environmentalists.
The increasing levels of investment and that
more of the capital is from conventional financial
actors, both suggest that sustainable energy
has become mainstream and the future of energy
production, as non-renewable resources decline.
This is reinforced by climate change concerns,
nuclear dangers and accumulating radioactive
waste, high oil prices, peak oil and increasing
government support for renewable energy.
These factors are commercializing renewable
energy, enlarging the market and growing demand,
the adoption of new products to replace obsolete
technology and the conversion of existing
infrastructure to a renewable standard.
== Economic models ==
In economics, a non-renewable resource is
defined as goods, where greater consumption
today implies less consumption tomorrow.
David Ricardo in his early works analysed
the pricing of exhaustible resources, where
he argued that the price of a mineral resource
should increase over time.
He argued that the spot price is always determined
by the mine with the highest cost of extraction,
and mine owners with lower extraction costs
benefit from a differential rent.
The first model is defined by Hotelling's
rule, which is a 1931 economic model of non-renewable
resource management by Harold Hotelling.
It shows that efficient exploitation of a
nonrenewable and nonaugmentable resource would,
under otherwise stable conditions, lead to
a depletion of the resource.
The rule states that this would lead to a
net price or "Hotelling rent" for it that
rose annually at a rate equal to the rate
of interest, reflecting the increasing scarcity
of the resources.
The Hartwick's rule provides an important
result about the sustainability of welfare
in an economy that uses non-renewable source.
== See also
