Perhaps with the recent rise in information about renewable energy, a lot of people are missing out on understanding the other type of energy, non-renewable. In the world we live in today, non renewable energy is the dominant source of energy for most of everyday use. Essentially, what non renewable energy is is the energy that exists in nature freely, often as a result of years of earth formations and compilation of natural sources into the earth.
A central feature of non renewable energy is, as the name suggests, the inability to be renewed. They exist only in finite amounts, meaning that one day, they will no longer be available. There are many forms and types of non renewable energy from fossil fuels, including crude oil, uranium, natural gas, and coil. All these types of energies are made from the same ingredient, fossil fuel, a carbon rich energy source formed beneath the earth over 300 million years ago. We shall look at three most commonly used non renewable energy sources in this article.
Crude oil
Crude oil is what our world runs on. Form industrial processes, vehicles, and other activities, oil is used. It is found in the area between rock layers and within rocks as well. Retrieving the oil is a difficult process that require a great deal of carefulness. When dug up from the earth, crude oil is much too volatile to be used immediately for various human activities. Hence, it has to undergo an extensive purification process to make it usable. Once this is done, we have various types of oils such as heating fuel, gasoline, and so forth.
Natural gas
Natural gas, unlike crude oil, is a gaseous form of fossil fuels. It is found in areas around oil deposits in the subsurface between and within rocks. The most popular type of natural gas that most people are familiar with is methane. When this gas is retrieved from the earth, it is extremely light, odorless, and volatile. It has to be stabilized by a mix of additive products in order for it to be used by humans. This nonrenewable energy is effective in heating homes.
Coal
This is the solid state of fossil fuels. It comes from the plants that once resided in the swamps and has been solidified through the years by covered by sedimentary rocks and pressure. This organic material then slowly, through the years, was “cooked” and solidified to become coal. Coal is used for various purposes for human use. One of the most important uses is in electricity conduction. Coal in elemental structure is packed with carbon, a reactive element. To produce electricity, it is lit up in a combustion chamber to create heat and warm water. This heated water then creates steam which is used to turn the generator. The generator then creates electricity which is sent out to transformers which disperse electricity to homes.
Non renewable sources of energy are indeed finite, meaning the central sources of energy we rely on will someday run out. Not only that, but the cost of burning such volatile products has been great especially on the health of our planet. This prompts us to come up with alternative sources of energy which are cleaner and renewable.