Non Renewable Energy Advantages And Disadvantages
Since time immemorial, biomass fuels have been used to generate energy. The fact that the How Did The Harlem Renaissance Influence The Civil Rights Movement products from some wireless advantages and disadvantages energy sources such as fossil fuels are Evil Improves The Existence Of God Essay means that they pollute the environment. Personal Narrative: 3 Week In School navigation Toggle navigation. Willie Nelsons September Song we touched on in advantage 4, renewables have the breakfast club bender domestic and industrial uses. From tidal power to geothermal, the commercial viability of many renewable Personal Narrative: 3 Week In School resources is not available right now. Big Brother Essay Resources. There Personal Narrative: 3 Week In School several methods of converting Biomass into energy, and they include:. Radioactive waste can be extremely toxic, causing burns and william shakespeare-the tempest the risk Big Brother Essay cancers, Essay On Health Disparities diseases, and bone decay among people who are exposed to it. The coal can then be cut out of the ground more easily.
advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources
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Although fossil fuels are used to create the products that allow for this power to be produced, most forms of renewable energy can become carbon neutral in 5 years or less. The disadvantage of renewable energy is that it can be costly. Although wind power and solar power have become cost-competitive with coal-fired power and nuclear power in some communities, some forms are not cost-competitive globally yet when the cost per kilowatt hour is compared.
In , the lifetime cost per kilowatt hour of conventional coal was 9. It is safe, abundant, and clean to use when compared to fossil fuels. Even clean-burning natural gas is at a disadvantage to what renewable energy sources can provide. Enough sunlight comes down on our planet every day that if we could harvest it with solar panels and other forms of collection, we could power everything for an entire year. Because wind is created by the warmth of the sun, it is also virtually limitless.
Fossil fuels, in theory, are a finite resource because of how they are created. Multiple forms of renewable energy exist. Diversification within the renewable energy sector has exploded since the s. From dams that provide hydropower to solar strips that are strong enough to handle the weight of a vehicle and can be turned into roads, we have numerous methods of creating power through the collection of renewable energy. There is greater diversity in this sector when compared to fossil fuel resources. It provides the foundation for energy independence. These fuels come from a handful of countries that work to control pricing and availability. By developing renewable energy resources, countries can work toward energy independence with a diversified portfolio of energy to access.
Although these resources take time to develop, it should be remembered that the current fossil fuel infrastructure has more than a century of development behind it. Renewable energy is stable. It is a dependable resource when an infrastructure is available to support it. Jobs are created within the sector as well, creating stability within local economic sectors at the same time. The power created can be distributed through existing grids, which can limit installation costs for some communities. It is a technology instead of a fuel. Coal must be mined and refined to make it useful. Natural gas must be released and transported. A fossil fuel is created from natural resources, whereas renewable energies are created thanks to the use of technology.
For this reason, the pricing of renewable energies will continue to go down as improvements in technology occur. Fossil fuels can see price reductions through mining and refining efficiency improvements, but there will always be an underlying labor cost that will affect pricing and availability. Not every form of renewable energy is commercially viable. Many forms of renewable energy must be collected at a specific location, which means distribution networks must be setup to take advantage of the power that can be generated.
These networks require a massive fossil fuel investment that can take generations to neutralize with the use of renewable energy. From tidal power to geothermal, the commercial viability of many renewable energy resources is not available right now. Many forms of renewable energy are location-specific. Even solar energy has limited potential in some locations. Most non-renewable energy sources are fossil fuel s: coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Carbon is the main element in fossil fuels. For this reason, the time period that fossil fuels formed about million years ago is called the Carboniferous Period. All fossil fuels formed in a similar way. Hundreds of millions of years ago, even before the dinosaurs, Earth had a different landscape.
It was covered with wide, shallow seas and swampy forests. Plants, algae , and plankton grew in these ancient wetland s. They absorbed sunlight and created energy through photosynthesis. When they died, the organisms drifted to the bottom of the sea or lake. There was energy stored in the plants and animals when they died. Over time, the dead plants were crushed under the seabed. Rocks and other sediment piled on top of them, creating high heat and pressure underground. In this environment, the plant and animal remains eventually turned into fossil fuels coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Today, there are huge underground pockets called reservoir s of these non-renewable sources of energy all over the world. Fossil fuels are a valuable source of energy.
They are relatively inexpensive to extract. They can also be stored, piped, or shipped anywhere in the world. However, burning fossil fuels is harmful for the environment. When coal and oil are burned, they release particles that can pollute the air, water, and land. Some of these particles are caught and set aside, but many of them are released into the air. When fossil fuels are combust ed heated , they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The carbon in fossil fuels has been sequester ed, or stored, underground for millions of years.
This contributes to temperatures rising faster than organisms can adapt. Coal is a black or brownish rock. We burn coal to create energy. Carbonization is the process that ancient organisms undergo to become coal. About 3 meters 10 feet of solid vegetation crushed together into. Peat is the lowest rank of coal. It has gone through the least amount of carbonization. It is an important fuel in areas of the world including Scotland, Ireland, and Finland. Anthracite is the highest rank of coal. Anthracite forms in regions of the world where there have been giant movements of the earth, such as the formation of mountain ranges.
The Appalachian Mountains, in the eastern part of the United States, are rich in anthracite. We mine coal out of the ground so we can burn it for energy. There are two ways that we can mine coal: underground mining and surface mining. Miners take an elevator down a mineshaft. They operate heavy machinery that cuts the coal out of the Earth and brings it above ground. This can be dangerous work because cutting coal can release dangerous gases. The gases can cause explosions or make it hard for miners to breathe.
Surface mining is used when the coal is located very near the surface of the earth. To get to the coal, companies must first clear the area. They take away the trees and soil. The coal can then be cut out of the ground more easily. Entire habitat s are destroyed during this process. About half the electricity in the United States comes from coal. It gives power to our lights, refrigerators, dishwashers, and most other things we plug in. We use the byproducts to make cement, plastics, roads, and many other things.
Coal is a reliable source of energy. We can rely on it day and night, summer and winter, sunshine or rain, to provide fuel and electricity. Using coal is also harmful. Mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Coal miners are exposed to toxic dust and face the dangers of cave-ins and explosions at work. When coal is burned, it releases many toxic gases and pollutant s into the atmosphere. Mining for coal can also cause the ground to cave in and create underground fires that burn for decades at a time. Petroleum is a liquid fossil fuel. It is also called oil or crude oil. Petroleum is trapped by underground rock formations. In some places, oil bubbles right out of the ground.
Remains of animals that got trapped there thousands of years ago are still preserved in the tar! We drill through the earth to access the oil. Some deposits are on land, and others are under the ocean floor. Many successful oil sites produce oil for about 30 years. Sometimes they can produce oil for much longer. When oil is under the ocean floor, companies drill offshore. They must build an oil platform. Oil platforms are some of the biggest manmade structures in the world!
Once the oil has been drilled, it must be refine d. Oil contains many chemicals besides carbon, and refining the oil takes some of these chemicals out. We use oil for many things. The rest can be processed and used in liquid products such as nail polish and rubbing alcohol, or solid products such as water pipes, shoes, crayons, roofing, vitamin capsules, and thousands of other items.
There are advantages to drilling for oil. It is relatively inexpensive to extract. It is also a reliable and dependable source of energy and money for the local community. Oil provides us with thousands of conveniences. In the form of gasoline, it is a portable source of energy that gives us the power to drive places. Petroleum is also an ingredient in many items that we depend on. However, burning gasoline is harmful to the environment.
It releases hazardous gases and fumes into the air that we breathe. There is also the possibility of an oil spill. If there is a problem with the drilling machinery, the oil can explode out of the well and spill into the ocean or surrounding land. Oil spills are environmental disasters, especially offshore spills. Natural gas is another fossil fuel that is trapped underground in reservoirs.
It is mostly made up of methane. You may have smelled methane before. The decomposing material in landfills also release methane, which smells like rotten eggs. There is so much natural gas underground that it is measured in million, billion, or trillion cubic meters. Natural gas is found in deposits a few hundred meters underground. In order to get natural gas out of the ground, companies drill straight down. However, natural gas does not form in big open pockets. Natural gas is trapped in rock formations that can stretch for kilometers. This releases the natural gas that is trapped in rock formations. If the rock is too hard, they can send acid down the well to dissolve the rock. They can also use tiny grains of glass or sand to prop open the rock and let the gas escape.
We use natural gas for heating and cooking. Natural gas can also be burned to generate electricity.
