Renewable/Non-renewable
Resources Activity
Do Now
How are these car engines different?
How are they the same?
Which is better for the environment? How do you know?
There are 2 types of energy
What are they?
Renewable Energy Resources
Non-renewable Energy Resources
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=grI3BDSGEC4
What is a renewable energy resource?
 Renewable energy is natural energy which does
not have a limited supply.
 Renewable energy can be used again and again,
and will never run out.
Types:
 Biomass
 Hydro-electric
 Geothermal
 Solar
 Wave
 Wind
 Wood
What is a nonrenewable energy
resource?
 An energy resource that is not
replaced or is replaced only very
slowly by natural processes
 Fossil fuels are continually
produced by the decay of plant
and animal matter, but the rate of
their production is extremely slow,
very much slower than the rate at
which we use them.
Types:
 Coal
 Oil
 Nuclear
 Natural Gas
Make a concept map
differentiating between
renewable and non-renewable
as ENERGY RESOURCES
Do Now:
Give 2 examples of renewable
energy and 2 examples of nonrenewable energy
TARGET GOALS
 SWBAT… (STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO…)
 Understand how population relates to energy
resources
 Evaluate problems related to resource
availability
 Discover differences between renewable and
nonrenewable energy resources
 Learn strategies to prevent resource depletion
What are Natural Resources?
 All of the things we use in our physical
environment to meet our needs and wants.
 Water
 Land
 Material for clothing
 There are 2 types of Natural Resources
 Renewable
 Non-Renewable
Non-Renewable Resources
Exist in FINITE amounts
Once they are used up,
they are gone FOREVER!!!
For example, fossil fuels are
formed through natural processes
that take MILLIONS of years.
If we use all of the available
fossil fuels, no additional
amounts of them will EVER be
available to us – at least not for MILLIONS of years!!!
Renewable Resources
 Can be replenished through natural and/or
human processes.
 For example, even though trees die and are cut
down, new trees are naturally reseeded or can
be replanted by humans.
 Solar energy, wind, and tides are renewable
resources that are constantly being renewed or
restored.
Sustainability
 the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or
confirmed.
 In Environmental Science, it’s the quality of not
being harmful to the environment or depleting
natural resources, and thereby supporting longterm ecological balance.
Sustainable Yield
 The maximum rate at which people can use a
RENEWABLE RESOURCE without reducing the ability of
the resource to renew itself.
 For example, sustainable yield of timber would mean
harvesting only the volume of trees that the forest
could grow.
 Sustainable Yield also applies to water and wildlife.
 It varies from region to region and is different
depending on the resource.
Follow-Up Questions
Categorize the following as
renewable or non-renewable

A field of corn

Oil in the Arctic tundra

Coal in the Appalachian mountains

Sunshine

Trees in a forest

Tuna in the ocean

Sand on a beach

A breeze over the Texas plains

Water in a river
 Which resources would
continue to be available
no matter how much
people used them?
 Under what circumstances
would a renewable
resource not be
renewable?