Renewable and Non-Renewable

Resources

Renewable Resources:

• resources that can be replaced in a short time through natural processes.

• Water, soil, air, living things

• Will be renewable as long as we protect them from pollution

How we ruin our Renewable Resources:• Air pollution: burning of fossil fuels

for cars/factories.• Soil Pollution: runoff of harmful

chemicals, garbage.• Water Pollution: harmful chemicals

(fertilizers, pesticides from farming), dumping waste and garbage in water.

• Clearing land loosens soil, which erodes away.

How we Conserve our Renewable Resources:• Soil: • Plant cover crops when fields are not in use• Plant soybeans to replenish nutrients• Terracing• Contour Plowing

TerracingContour Plowing

How we Conserve our Renewable Resources:

• Water: • Turn off faucet when not using water• Replace toilets with ones that use less

water/flush• Shorter showers

How we Conserve our Renewable Resources:• Air: • Filters on smokestacks• Clean Air Act- laws to monitor pollutants

released.• Car emissions inspected (limit amount of

pollutants car exhaust).

• Recycle

Renewable Energy • Solar power: • uses energy from the sun to create

electricity.

• Wind Power: • energy from moving air, which pushes and

turns blades of a turbine (windmill)• Built in windy places

• Solar power:

Renewable Energy

• Hydroelectric Power: • moving water to generate electricity• Built on rivers and dams• Moving water spins a turbine, which moves a

generator to create electricity.

Non-Renewable Resources:• Resources that cannot be replenished by natural

processes at the same rate that they are used.• Ex: Minerals, fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)

Fossil fuels: • energy resources formed from the remains of

organisms that lived millions of years ago.• Buried in layers of sediment, then heat and

pressure change them into fossil fuels.• They have energy because the animals/plants

that formed them had energy from the sun.

Non-Renewable Resources:• Fossil fuels cause pollution, acid rain, and global

warming. • Most of what we use requires fossil fuels to

make it.• We use minerals to make many products, like

metal, that we use.

Saving our Non-Renewable Resources:• Fuel efficient cars (more miles/gallon)• Public transportation• Walking, riding bike instead of a car• Insulation keeps heat from escaping from

buildings and being wasted.• Turn off lights when not using them.• REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!• Reduce how much you use • Reuse what you can, instead of throwing

away.• Recycle: process materials again to make new

products.