2 Responses

1. burning coal
   p.s.
   they way were headed the environmentalists are already claiming water is unrenewable, plants will be an endangered item next

2. First, the answer: burning coal to create steam is nonrenewable.

   Renewable means that you can continue to get more of the energy supply from the source. For example, the sun continues to cast light on the Earth, so solar power is renewable.

   Let’s briefly look at each one:

   1) Burning coal requires you to get more coal, and after a long time, you will run out of coal. You will have to wait another several million years to get more coal, so it is not functionally renewable.

   2) Dams hold back rivers, where water stacks up behind them. Turning of a turbine by passing that water over it is a form of renewable energy. That is because the water will continue to flow, regardless of the turbine. As long as there is rain, there will be the river, and thus the power source.

   3) Plant wastes are renewable, as long as you don’t burn the plant, killing it. An example would be to burn leaves from a tree, after they fall from it. New leaves will continue to grow. Really, the plants use the sun (a renewable resource), water (a renewable resource), and air (again a renewable resource) to produce its materials (leaves, etc.).

   I hope that makes some sense to you. Generally, if you have to keep getting more of the fuel, then it is nonrenewable. If you can use ambient fuel (water, wind, sunlight, etc.) that keeps producing as you go, then it is renewable.

   For example, ethanol is made from corn, and corn can be grown in a field. You can keep making more ethanol, as long as you keep growing corn. You don’t have to go get corn; you grow it.