Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Resources | AP Environmental Science | Khan Academy

- [Instructor] Today, let's
talk about energy resources.

You've probably already
done something today

that used energy resources,

even beginning from
the moment you woke up.

For me, the beginning of my day

always starts with making tea.

I use energy in every
step of this process.

My car uses oil when I
drive to the grocery store

to get the tea,

my stove uses natural gas
when I boil the water,

and my water heater uses
coal-sourced electricity

when I wash my mug in
hot water afterwards.

We use energy constantly
in our daily lives.

Since the first law of thermodynamics

states that energy cannot
be created nor destroyed,

where does it all come from
and will we have enough?

When we talk about energy resources,

we could split it up into two groups:

renewable energy and nonrenewable energy.

I can always remember what
renewable resources are

because the prefix re means again

and the root new refers the
origin of the energy source,

so renewable energy sources

are the sources that we
can use again and again

and are quickly restored
by natural processes.

Renewable fuel sources
include sunlight, wind,

moving water, biomass
from fast-growing plants,

and geothermal heat from the earth.

The lifespan of renewable
resources looks like a circle.

We can use them and then
we can use them again

without worrying about them running out.

Nonrenewable energy
sources on the other hand,

are sources that exist in a fixed amount

and cannot be easily replaced.

These energy sources must
be extracted from the earth,

and they include things like
nuclear fuel and fossil fuels,

which are things like
coal, oil, and natural gas.

Fossil fuels were formed
in the geologic past

from the remains of ancient organisms.

Plants and animals that
died millions of years ago

became buried in the soil,
partially decomposed,

and were exposed to a
lot of heat and pressure.

This heat and pressure
chemically rearranged

the energy contained within their bodies

into the fossil fuels we use today.

Because they take so long to
form, we have a finite amount

of nonrenewable resources
in the earth right now.

The lifespan for fossil
fuels is a broken loop,

a one-way ticket.

First, the fossil fuel is found,

then it has to be extracted.

Extracting fossil fuels

can involve destructive mining processes

that can pollute surrounding habitats.

It then has to be transported
to wherever it will be used.

And using fossil fuels means burning them,

which releases greenhouse gases

and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

Also, it can take energy

to refine and process
some types of fossil fuel

so that they're more helpful to us,

like turning crude oil into petroleum gas,

diesel, and jet fuel,

and burning the fossil
fuels transforms that energy

into a less organized form
of energy like heat and ash.