Important Things to Consider About Energy Resources
With both renewable and nonrenewable resources, there are at least two important things to
consider. One is that we have to have a practical way to turn the resource into a useful form
of energy. The other is that we have to consider what happens when we turn the resource
into energy.
For example, if we get much less energy from burning a fuel than we put into making it,
then that fuel is probably not a practical energy resource. On the other hand, if another
fuel gives us large amounts of energy but also creates large amounts of pollution, that fuel
also may not be the best choice for an energy resource.
Lesson Summary
- According to the law of conservation of energy, energy is neither created or destroyed.
- Renewable resources can be replaced at the rate they are being used.
- Nonrenewable resources are available in limited amounts or are being used faster than
they can be replaced.
Interdisciplinary Connection
Health: Read the nutrition labels on some food packages in your kitchen or at the grocery
store. How is the energy in food measured? What are some foods that provide the most
energy per serving? Are the foods that contain the most energy the most healthful foods?
Review Questions
- What is needed by anything that moves or changes in any way
- What is the original source of most of our energy?
- When your body breaks down the food you eat, in what form does it store the energy
from the food? - When we burn a fuel, what is released that allows work to be done?
- For biomass, coal, natural gas, oil and geothermal energy, identify each energy resource
as renewable or nonrenewable. Explain your reasoning. - What factors are important in judging how helpful an energy resource is to us?
- Is a rechargeable battery a renewable source of energy? Explain.
Further Reading / Supplemental Links
- Kydes, Andy, ”Primary Energy.” Encyclopedia of Earth, 2006. Available on the Web
at: