Non-Renewable Energy Resources

Non-Renewable Energy Resources

This Project will be in two Parts. The first part is about

Non-renewable energy. Non-renewable energy is a resource that will

some day we will run out of. Non-renewable energy is a resource that

will some day we will run out of.

The second part is on Renewable energy. Renewable energy is a resource

that we will never run out of because it is continually being

replaced.

The sun is the source of all our energy resources. The sun's energy

reaches Earth and is converted into many forms , which we then use to

supply our energy demand.

Non Renewable Energy Resources

COAL. One of the most important natural fuels, coal was formed from

plant life buried in the Earth millions of years ago. Like petroleum

and natural gas, it is a carbon-based fossil fuel.

Coal is most commonly used to produce electricity in power plants. It

also is an important fuel for heating and powering industrial and

manufacturing facilities, and for making steel. The many chemicals

derived from coal are used in industrial processes and in the

manufacture of nylon, paints, plastics, synthetic rubber, aspirin, and

thousands of other useful products .

A hydrocarbon, coal is classified in ranks, or types, according to the

amount of heat it produces. This depends upon the amount of fixed

carbon it contains. The ranks, in increasing order, are lignite, or

brown coal; subbituminous coal, or very soft coal; bituminous coal, or

soft coal; and anthracite, or hard coal. Bituminous coal is the most

abundant type.

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Oil.

There are many different varieties of crude oil, ranging from very

fluid, volatile liquids to viscous, semisolid materials. Crude oil is

usually either black or green, but it can also be light yellow or

transparent. Crude oils vary considerably in density and are described

as heavy, average, or light. Light oils are valuable because they

contain more gasoline the most valuable product refined from

petroleum.

Crude oil and natural gas are called hydrocarbons because they are

composed of compounds made up almost entirely of carbon and hydrogen,

along with some minor impurities sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen.

Petroleum is crude oil, a naturally occurring liquid that can be

distilled or refined to make fuels, lubricating oils, asphalt, and

other valuable products. The word petroleum comes from the Latin

petra, meaning "rock," and oleum, meaning "oil." Used in a broad

sense, petroleum also refers to natural gas and solid asphalt, or tar.

Crude oil is a valuable raw material that is used in making a great

variety of products. About 70 percent of the energy consumed in the

western world comes from crude oil and natural gas. Crude oil is

refined into fuels, including gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel

fuel, furnace oil, and fuel oil. It is also the source of greases,

waxes, and coke. Crude oil and natural gas are used to make feedstocks

chemicals that are the basis of hundreds of petrochemical products,

including paints, plastics, synthetic rubbers and fibers, fertilizers,

drugs, and explosives.

GAS.

Natural gas is a mixture of flammable gases, mainly the hydrocarbons

methane and ethane, that occurs beneath the surface of the Earth.

Helium is also found in relatively high concentrations in natural gas.

Manufactured gas is derived principally from coal and petroleum.

Natural gas usually occurs in association with petroleum because

geological conditions favorable for it generally are favorable for

natural-gas occurrence as well. Although many natural gases can be

used directly from the well without treatment, some must be processed

to remove such undesirable constituents as carbon dioxide, hydrogen

sulfide, and other sulfur componants.

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Nuclear Power.

Energy is locked in the nuclei of atoms. The nuclei of atoms contain

two kinds of particles protons and neutrons. The nuclear particles can

store energy. Some nuclei spontaneously rearrange, or lose some

particles, and emit energy. This process is called radioactivity. For

example, a radium nucleus can spontaneously eject a cluster of two

neutrons and two protons (called an alpha particle) and a gamma ray

(electromagnetic