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Environmental Design - Renewable & Non-Renewable Resources

Renewable Resources

A renewable resource is a natural resource with the ability of being replaced through biological or other natural processes and replenished with the passage of time. Renewable resources are part of our natural environment and form our ecosystem.

Renewable resources are endangered by industrial developments and growth. They must be carefully managed to avoid exceeding the natural world's capacity to replenish them. A life cycle assessment provides a systematic means of evaluating renewability. This is a matter of sustainability in the natural environment.

Solar radiation, tides, winds, geothermal, biomass, and other natural elements are renewable resources of energy now called renewable energies.

Non-Renewable Resources

A non-renewable resource is a natural resource which cannot be produced, grown, generated, or used on a scale which can sustain its consumption rate, once depleted there is no more available for future needs. Also considered non-renewable resources are resources that are consumed much faster than nature can create them. Fossil fuels (such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas), nuclear power (uranium), and certain aquifers are examples. In contrast, resources such as timber (when harvested sustainably) or metals (which can be recycled) are considered renewable resources.

Gasoline, coal, natural gas, diesel, and other commodities derived from fossil fuels, as well as minerals like copper and others, are non-renewable resources without a sustainable yield.