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A coal mine in Wyoming, United States. Coal, produced over millions of years, is a finite and non-renewable resource on a human time scale.. A non-renewable resource (also called a finite resource) is a natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a pace quick enough to keep up with consumption. [1]
From the human perspective, resources are non-renewable when their rate of consumption exceeds the rate of replenishment/recovery; a good example of this is fossil fuels, which are in this category because their rate of formation is extremely slow (potentially millions of years), meaning they are considered non-renewable. Some resources ...
Another non-renewable resource humans exploit is subsoil minerals, such as precious metals, mainly used to produce industrial commodities. Intensive agriculture is an example of a mode of production that hinders many aspects of the natural environment , for example the degradation of forests in a terrestrial ecosystem and water pollution in an ...
Care must be taken to ensure that non-renewable earth materials are not over-extracted. Ecological balance within the region needs to be maintained while efficiently utilizing its resources. Many local suppliers carry materials that have been shipped in from out of the area, so it is important to ask for locally produced/quarried materials.
Non-renewable resources are formed over very long geological periods. Minerals and fossils are included in this category. Since their formation rate is extremely slow, they cannot be replenished, once they are depleted. Even though metals can be recycled and reused, whereas petroleum and gas cannot, they are still considered non-renewable ...
Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials, and final reclamation or restoration of the land after the mine is closed. [2]
Renewable resources are available each year, unlike non-renewable resources, which are eventually depleted. A simple comparison is a coal mine and a forest. While the forest could be depleted, if it is managed it represents a continuous supply of energy, vs. the coal mine, which once has been exhausted is gone.
Primary energy can be non-renewable or renewable. Total primary energy supply (TPES) is the sum of production and imports, plus or minus stock changes, minus exports and international bunker storage. [3] The International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES) prefers total energy supply (TES) to refer to this indicator. [4]