A non renewable resource is any resource which cannot be grown or produced at a rate equal or more than it’s consumption. Basically once it’s used, that it for it. There are not many examples but the 6 that I have listed account for basically 90% of the worlds energy resources. Below you’ll find a list of non renewable resources examples.
Non Renewable Resources List
- Diesel: More specifically petrodiesel as we need to now differentiate between diesels from conventional sources and those from new alternative sources such as biomass as biofuels. Diesel is produced by the distillation of crude oil at a temperature between 200 and 350 Celsius at 1 atm. It’s original source is petroleum. Once you distill and use that diesel, you never get it back. There are not enough sources to produce enough diesel to call it renewable.
- Uranium Ore: Uranium is produced from Uranium ore and is the energy source for nuclear power. Not only is it used up once processed, it also leaves behind a waste that we have not yet found a way to properly manage. The Uranium is transmuted to Plutonium which creates the power necessary for the nuclear reactor. Over 90% of the world Uranium is found in ten countries and currently demand is set to production, so there is little fluctuation in prices or demand. There has also been a scaled increase in Uranium production, on top of public backlash towards the power source due to accidents like Chernobyl or the Fukushima accident.
- Coal: Coal is a sedimentary rock that is the result of plant and woody material which was protected from biodegradation and oxidation by being submerged and sedimented in a swamp like environment. Most of our coal comes from the same period in time hundreds of million of years ago when the Earth was humid, muggy and fully of plant life. Since then there has been no more creation of coal. It is now the largest fuel source on the planet and has been for the last hundred years but due to concerns about it’s environmental impact, it’s production and usage has been scaled back in Western countries.
- Petroleum: One of the planet’s most used resources. Used as a fuel in basically any transportation method. Sourced from deep underground or in solid shale’s at surface. Global supply is dwindling and has been for years as demand has skyrocketed. Created from algae, zooplankton and organic materials that were deposited in anoxic (without oxygen) conditions 10′s to 100′s of years ago. Each time they’re used up, it’s once less litre that we have on this planet.
- Natural Gas: Another fossil fuel that was wasted in bulk in the early years of oil exploration but is now used as a heating fuel and more recently as a fuel for vehicles, when put in a liquid form.
- Any naturally occurring mineral: All the metals, zinc, copper, lead, tin, platinum etc, if not recycled can not be replenished. In this case, if wide recycling usage was used then it would be possible to continue using these metals. However due to the nature and variety of products that require minerals, it is not feasible to recycle all these metals and as such they go to landfills where they sit wasted.
