What is a non-renuable source of energy?

Answer 1

It means a source of energy in which the fuel or other prime mover can only be used once and cannot be renewed naturally, and of which there is a finite supply. Thus coal is non-renewable, as it is turned into useless ash on burning it. You could argue that coal could be remade on earth, and that may be true if you can wait a few hundred million years, and if the earth's climate reverted to a very warm wet one so that vegetation flourished. On the other hand wind and solar energy is renewable, because we have the sun to power them as sources, and the sun will continue to do this for billions of years.

Answer 2

Non-renewable "sources" of energy are those sources which can't be replaced in a reasonable amount of time. For example when energy is extracted by burning a lump of coal the coal is changed to a pile of ash and no longer a source of energy. Since it takes nature millons of years to create coal from vegetation, that burned lump can't be replaced in a reasonable amount of time. Same is true for oil & natural gas. Wood on the other hand is on the border line. While the tree you burn for energy is forever gone its still possible to replace it by growing another tree. That takes 20 -30 yrs. Solar energy is considered renewable simply because no one expects the sun to stop shinning any time soon. High pressure running water created by a dam is renewable as long as the river and rain filling the reservoir keep coming.

Answer 3

I think it means a

non-renewable source is an energy that is used once up until it cannot be recreated into a short period of time.

Answer 4

non-renewable energy sources are basically energy sources that take thousands to millions of years to be made again (oil,natural gas, coal) but then theres renewable energy sources like wood and methane that can be produced within years to weeks.

Answer 5

for example water makes electricity and it is nonrenewable sometimes other times it can be cleaned

Answer 6

Fossil fuels. Anything with a finite supply.