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Non-Renewable Energy
Concept sheet | Geography
To access the other concept sheets in the Energy-Producing Regions unit, go to the See Also section.
Secondary
1-2
Table of contents
Non-renewable energy is a resource that does not regenerate naturally or regenerates at a slower rate than which it is used.
Non-renewable forms of energy are in limited supply. If we keep using them, we could run out of them.
Non-renewable types of energy include:
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy is produced by splitting atoms. The substance that is most often used to create nuclear energy is uranium. There’s uranium all over the world. It is extracted from ore.
Enriched uranium
Uranium ore undergoes several processes before it is used in nuclear power plants.
Source: Bjoern Wylezich, Shutterstock.com
Reactors in nuclear power plants generate electricity from nuclear energy.
Source: Leonid Sorokin, Shutterstock.com
Advantages of Nuclear Power
- It produces very little greenhouse gas.
- It produces large amounts of energy regardless of the weather.
Disadvantages of Nuclear Power
- It produces radioactive waste, which poses a danger to health and the environment.
- In the event of an accident or natural disaster, nuclear power plants can release radioactive substances that are hazardous to health.
- Uranium resources are not renewable, so it is possible to deplete the world’s reserves.
Fossil-based Energy
Fossil-based energy comes from fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal, and it supplies around 80% of the world’s energy.[3]
A fossil fuel is a non-renewable natural resource that releases energy when burned (coal, natural gas, oil).
Fossil fuels are formed in the earth’s crust by the decomposition of organic matter (plants, animals, microorganisms, etc.). Due to the millions of years required for decomposition to occur, fossil fuels are classified as non-renewable energy sources.
The main fossil fuels used as energy sources are:
Oil
Petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbons that are mostly found in liquid form. It is also present as a semi-solid in oil sands. Oil deposits are created by pressure and heat on organic matter (remains of marine animals and plants) at the bottom of oceans (current or ancient).
A hydrocarbon is a substance made of hydrogen and carbon. Oil and natural gas contain hydrocarbons.
Oil in liquid form is easy to extract. Extraction involves drilling into the ground and pumping the oil using a pumpjack.
Liquid petroleum
Source: Kirill Gorshkov, Shutterstock.com
Pumpjacks
These pumps extract liquid oil from the ground.
Source: sockagphoto, Shutterstock.com
Extracting oil sands is more difficult since bitumen (a mixture of hydrocarbons) has to be separated from grains of sand. Oil sands are collected and transported to a plant where water is used to separate the oil from the sand.
Oil deposits are scattered all over the world. Just 15 countries account for 75% of the world’s oil.[4] In 2019, the world’s top three oil producers were Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.[5]
Oil sands
Source: alberta-oil-sands [Photograph], Gold, L., 2011, Flickr, (URL). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0[6]
Advantages of Oil
- It is easy to extract and transport.
- Oil extraction and processing create many jobs and are good for the economy.
- Oil has many uses. For example, gasoline made from oil is used to fuel cars.
Disadvantages of Oil
- Oil is a non-renewable form of energy. It takes millions of years for new fossil fuels to form.
- Oil extraction and consumption emit large quantities of greenhouse gases.
- Oil extraction contaminates water.
- Environmental degradation caused by oil extraction and transportation leads to the displacement of wildlife and human populations.
Natural gas
Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons. It is mainly composed of methane plus smaller quantities of ethane, propane, butane, and pentanes. It is a gas with no colour or odour.
Like other fossil fuels, it is formed by the decomposition of organic matter over millions of years. As a result, it is often trapped under layers of rock.
There are various ways of extracting natural gas from the ground, depending on the deposit.
Advantages of Natural Gas
- Natural gas causes fewer greenhouse gas emissions than any other fossil fuel. It’s also the least likely to contaminate the water table.
- Extraction requires fewer resources than does extracting other fossil fuels.
- It is relatively affordable.
- It is fairly well distributed around the planet.
Disadvantages of Natural Gas
- It is difficult to transport, since it has to be compressed to be transported through a pipeline or liquefied to be loaded into liquid natural gas (LNG) tankers (a type of ship).
- Even though natural gas is cleaner than other fossil fuels, it is still harmful to the environment. It is the fifth-largest source of greenhouse gases in the world.[3]
- It is a non-renewable resource, so the world’s reserves may one day run out.
A water table is a reserve of water located below the ground but near the surface.
Coal
Coal is formed by heat and pressure applied to dead plants and trees. The process needed to create coal takes millions of years.
There are several types of coal. Anthracite is the hardest form of coal. It produces the most energy when burned.
Pieces of coal
Source: ppi09, Shutterstock.com
Coal is found on every continent. Since the late 18th century and the Industrial Revolution, coal has been used to power steam engines in factories and on trains and ships. Today, it is mainly used to generate electricity in coal-fired power plants.
Today, coal is used to produce nearly a third of the world’s energy.[3]
Benefits of Coal
- Coal is an energy source found all over the world.
- It is relatively inexpensive to extract.
- Coal-fired power plants can be installed anywhere. They don’t need to be located near a coal mining site.
Disadvantages of Coal
- Burning coal pollutes the air and creates large quantities of greenhouse gases.
- Coal mining, especially in open-pit mines, destroys and pollutes the local environment.
- Coal reserves are limited and could run out in the future.
See Also
To access the rest of the unit, see the following concept sheets.