Renewable resources: what they are and examples

Natural resources are those that regenerate naturally at a rate greater than their consumption , therefore, we would be talking about resources that we could supply continuously without harming future generations by leaving them unavailable.

To learn more about this type of natural resources and others, we recommend this other post about Natural Resources: definition and types .

There are many renewable resources that we have within our reach, although sometimes it is not so easy to take advantage of them due to the great cost of their facilities. These are examples of renewable resources that are known:

Sol

We can obtain heat and electricity with solar radiation and this is possible through solar panels that transform the sun’s rays, either by photovoltaic panels to obtain energy or photothermic panels to generate heat. This type of energy is clean and renewable. The problem is, that although you have only a large initial economic investment and then you do not need more investment, only maintenance over a long time, not everyone can afford it.

To have more information about the sun as a renewable or inexhaustible natural resource , we offer you these other articles:

• Is the sun a resource or a renewable energy or not?
• What is solar energy and what it does .
• Advantages and disadvantages of solar energy .

Wind

As with the sun, we can obtain energy through the wind with windmills called wind turbines . We are also talking about a clean and renewable energy, because the wind does not run out even if there are seasons with more or less volume. However, when wind turbine installations have to be located in mountainous areas, they can generate erosion. In addition, wind turbines emit a lot of noise, thus producing noise pollution in the places where they are located.

Here you can learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy .

Water

Water is a very important and vital renewable resource for living beings. In fact, there are countries with a shortage of water where their inhabitants die for lack of it. This resource, in addition to being used for direct consumption, is also used for the food industry, for recreational use, to generate energy from hydroelectric plants, for personal hygiene, etc. For example, water is a renewable natural resource that is used to obtain tidal energy , which uses the tides of the oceans and seas, or wave energy , which uses the movement of the waves themselves.

We advise you to read this other article on Why water is a renewable but limited resource .

Animals

They provide food for humans and other carnivorous or omnivorous animals and, in general, can be considered a renewable source of food. Other uses of this type of renewable resource are that they are used for the textile industry , for example, in obtaining leather, today some animals are also still used for work in the field and other leisure uses, such as shows, circuses, zoos, etc.

This resource is also overexploited, especially for the food industry , large hectares of land are needed to raise the amount of animals that the population demands. As a consequence, forests are being deforested for intensive cattle ranching. The general use of animals as a renewable resource for years has caused various controversies.

Plants

Plants, in addition to serving as food for a wide variety of animals, are also food for human beings. In addition to the use of plants in the food industry , they have a very relevant use in the pharmaceutical industry . Surely you have also heard about alternative energies, one of them is the generation of energy with biomass , which is nothing other than using forest and agricultural resources to obtain energy. Other products that we can obtain from plants are wood and paper .

The problem with this resource that despite being renewable, there is an overexploitation of it that causes a desertification of the soil. For example, in Argentina the soil is impoverished due to the overexploitation suffered by soy plantations.

Geothermal

Geothermal energy is a renewable resource , since it is the internal heat of the Earth , that is, it originates in the core of the planet. To learn more about geothermal energy, you can check out these other posts on Geothermal Energy: Definition, Advantages and Disadvantages and How Geothermal Energy Works .

In addition to renewable resources, we find those that are not renewable. Non-renewable resources are found in nature in a limited way , since they need long periods of time to regenerate and we consume them much faster than this time they need to recover. Some examples are minerals, oil, natural gas, and coal.

There are big differences between renewable and non-renewable resources :

• On the one hand, renewable resources, as we have already mentioned, regenerate quickly and can be found in large quantities and, on the other hand, non-renewable resources regenerate very slowly, being limited.
• Obtaining renewable resources to generate energy is a great cost compared to obtaining non-renewable resources. In addition, with non-renewable resources, greater amounts of energy are obtained and it is well known how to obtain it. However, obtaining energy with some non-renewable resources is still something that is half way or large sites are needed to obtain it.
• You may be wondering what type of resource is most beneficial for the environment, these are renewable resources due to their capacity for renewal, although it is true that sometimes the infrastructures necessary to obtain them deteriorate the environment where they are found, as happens with hydroelectric plants or with the wind turbines of the wind farms.
• Another difference is that renewable resources can generally be found all over the planet, which is not the case with non-renewable resources. This situation creates conflicts of wars between countries, in addition to creating enormous inequality. For example, the wars in the Middle East are the result of conflicts over resources such as oil and natural gas. This is a somewhat paradoxical result, since countries with the highest non-renewable resources are ultimately poorer than those with fewer non-renewable resources.

At present, we are consuming resources at an uncontrolled rate, we are overexploiting the planet and the consequences are already being seen. We must make responsible consumption if we want to survive as a species, since our survival depends on these resources, whether renewable or non-renewable. In this link you will find more information about the Overexploitation of natural resources: causes and consequences .

To finish, if you want to go deeper into this topic, we recommend you take a look at this other article on renewable and non-renewable energies: examples and summary and this video from AgroCorrn on the differences between renewable and non-renewable resources, as well as examples of each type.

If you want to read more articles similar to Renewable resources: what they are and examples , we recommend that you enter our Renewable Energies category .