Protecting the Earths Energy

Resources
Energy is generated from natural resources. Natural resources are often grouped into two
broad categories : renewable and nonrenewable. Renewable resources are those that are so
abundant they cannot be depleted. Renewable energy resources include solar power, wind power,
geothermal power, biomass power, and, to some extent hydro power and nuclear power.
Nonrenewable energy resources can be depleted completely or beyond economic feasibility.
Nonrenewable energy resources include fossil fuels : oil, coal, and natural gas.

NONRENEWABLE SOURCES OF ENERGY

Energy generated from nonrenewable energy resources is considered by some to be
unsustainable. Thus, not only do nonrenewable resources present a threat to sustainability
because their use reduces the amount of energy available to people in the future, but also
their use results in damage to the environment that will have cumulative negative effects
on the food,water, and land people require to live.
One way to reduce the impact of these energy sources on the environment is to
employ carbon sequestration to trap and store greenhouse gases underground instead of
dispersing them into the atmosphere.

RENEWABLE SOURCES OF ENERGY

Green Energy refers to nonpolluting, renewable sources of energy. There Include
solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, and hydrogenenergy, among others. The great attraction of
renewable resources is that they generate power without releasing carbon dioxide or other
greenhouse into the atmosphere. The downside is that the energy they produce can be
intermittent, expensive, hard to distribute, and difficult to generate on massive scale.
However, since the 1980s, renewable energy resources have become increasingly
efficient and economically viable in some situations. Technological advanceshave
lowered the price and increased the performances of some infrastructure basics, such as
wind turbines and photovoltaic, making them more attractive to consumers.