Your Questions About Renewable Energy Definition

James asks…

What is the difference between conservation and recycling?

All resources are finite inclusive of renewable resources in the larger meaning of conservation of mass and energy.

admin answers:

Hi, Conservation and Recycling are a similar and different.
The easy definition of Conservation is just the “wise use” of any resource such as timber, water, farmland, wildlife, or just about any renewable and non-renewable resources.
Recyling, on the other hand, is putting something to use, that has already had one useful purpose and is nolonger needed for its original intended purpose. Examples are the recycling of aluminum cans, doors, folding chair and window frames.
The difference you asked for is that Conservation may be an overall term that covers just about use you make of the environement, while Recycling is use one aspect of conserving our resources.
Good Question: Both are great concepts and highly important, even essential, in good environmental stewardship.

Lisa asks…

What makes a resource renewable or nonrenewable?

What are examples of renewable and nonrenewable resource?

admin answers:

A resource that will never be depleted by using it up is renewable.
Wind hydro, trees, farm crops appear to be renewable.
Things we get out of mine or well, other than water, are non-renewable.

Fresh water is an important resource that appears to always regenerate itself. But fresh water right here is not quite as renewable. Some times we do run out of fresh water here even when there is a major flood of it somewhere else.

Geothermal energy is often wrongly classified as renewable. The amount of available geothermal energy may be very large, but it is finite.

Solar energy is renewable within the lifetime of earth even if the sun may be snuffed out. Its being snuffed out is not a result of our overuse.

Wind is classified as renewable even though it runs out, because it is not running out from use, and wait a few months and the wind will blow again.
While farm crops may be a renewable resource they depend on non-renewable resources, the minerals plants need come from the soil or are mined, manufactured. So, we can run out of those nutrients. Or put another way, the nutrients can be allowed to escape to the oceans. We can even run out of soil itself as it erodes and flows to the oceans.

When a resource is dependent on non-renewable resources we might treat that as a non-renewable. But classic definitions do regard plants and geothermal as renewable.

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