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The obtaining energy It is a process that is fundamental for most of the activities that human beings carry out on earth, and also for the goods that they have produced for consumption and production.
The human body itself is capable of producing energy for the activities it carries out, but not for the potential of the objects that have been constituted throughout the extensive process of civilization.
The energy sources are the sum of the existing resources in nature of which people can obtain energy to use in these activities, and is divided fundamentally into two groups.
Examples of non-renewable energies
The non-renewable energy or conventional is that obtained from limited natural resources, which once consumed in their entirety do not offer the possibility of being substituted. There are a number of reserves in the world for this form of energy production, but nothing beyond that.
It is usual that the means to produce these energy sources is the burning of fossil fuels, which releases large amounts of greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming.
Some examples of non-renewable energy:
- Natural gas: Fuel of fossil origin, which is a mixture of light hydrocarbons composed mainly of methane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and ethane. It is located in the subsoil or under the sea, and must undergo a double transformation from its extraction to its possibility of effective use.
- Petroleum: Organic compound present in different deposits, whose formation takes hundreds of millions of years. After extraction, it must be separated from gas and water through a process known as refining.
- Coal: Mineral of organic origin, consisting mainly of carbon. It also takes millions of years, and its energy use is carried out in thermal or thermoelectric plants to generate electricity: its steam can reach a temperature close to 600 ° C:
- Nuclear fuels: Materials that through fission or fusion release different types of energy, usually thermal. The technology that uses these energy sources is called nuclear technology, let alone X-rays and gamma rays. The main nuclear fuels are uranium and plutonium.
It can serve you:
- Examples of Non-renewable Resources
Examples of renewable energy
The renewable energy It is one that is obtained from potentially inexhaustible natural sources, due to the amount of energy they contain or because they are capable of regeneration through the natural environment itself. It is not an unlimited source, so its use must be subject to the timing of the renewal.
Energies of this type began to be considered as alternatives to conventional ones around the 1970s, and their developments were mainly motivated by economic necessity, although for now conventional energies are still generally cheaper.
It is also common for renewable energy to need a very large space to be able to develop, which is not always guaranteed.
Some examples of renewable energy:
- Biomass energy: Energy is obtained from the dry weight of organisms, after having completely extracted the water in them.
- Solar energy: The projections of the energy flow released by the sun are used to transform them into energy.
- Wind energy: Through the wind it is possible to move different devices, usually wind turbines.
- Tidal energy: The differences in the average height of the seas according to the position of the earth and the Moon are used, and with this electricity is generated.
- Geothermal energy: The energy comes from thermal phenomena inside the earth's crust.
See also:
- Examples of renewable resources
Other types of energy
| Potential energy | Mechanical energy |
| Hydroelectric power | Internal energy |
| Electric power | Thermal energy |
| Chemical energy | Solar energy |
| Wind power | Nuclear energy |
| Kinetic energy | Sound Energy |
| Caloric energy | hydraulic energy |
| Geothermal energy |
