Is sunlight renewable

Answer 1

Solar power is considered to be a renewable power source in the sense that the sun will continue to shine for billions of years to come, which is such a long time that it might as well be forever as far as we personally are concerned. However, the sun does not really last forever, and when it eventually changes into a red giant, billions of years from now, it will not be renewable by any means that I can foresee (although, of course, if the human race continues to exist for billions of years, there is no telling what new technology will be developed, or what will be possible with that technology).

Answer 2

Yes, sunlight is a renewable energy source because it is constantly being produced by the sun and is not depleted by human use. Solar energy technologies, such as solar panels, convert sunlight into electricity without generating greenhouse gas emissions.

Answer 3

Technically no. The sun has a finite amount of fuel and will eventually run out. However, this won't happen for several billion years yet, so in practice as far as humans are concerned it might as well be inexhaustible.

Answer 4

For all practical purposes (i.e., as pertains to us--homo sapiens), it IS renewable and is referenced as such; however, the sun won't last forever! It has been projected that the sun's lifespan is approximately 10 billion years--if I'm remembering correctly. It has already lived about 5 billion, and will live another 5 billion; although towards the end it will pass into other forms--red giant, white dwarf, etc. If you wanted to dwell on this technicality, then no, it's not renewable. But by then we will either be extinct or will have evolved into something else (hopefully a species that's much wiser) and probably will have left Earth for greener pastures. Also, because of entropy, nothing in the universe is renewable--technically; at least, in my humble opinion (although inflation theory and others may allow for the possibility of universes themselves being renewable indirectly--by continuously spawning new universes!)

Answer 5

Interesting question! The answer is, "No". Stars like our Sun generate light and heat through the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in the core of the star. While our Sun has been shining for about 4.5 billion years and is expected to last for another 4 billion years, the Sun will eventually begin to run out of fuel, and start to collapse. When this happens, the pressure of the star's collapse will increase the interior temperature to the point that the helium in the Sun will itself begin to fuse, causing the Sun to expand into a red giant.

Because the Sun isn't big enough to undergo a supernova explosion which would recycle a substantial fraction of its mass back into space (to be used in the formation of new stars and planets), most of the mass of the Sun will be trapped by gravity and will, over the lifetime of the universe, continue to shrink and grow cooler. This may take a trillion years or more.

So, sunlight, while plentiful, is not a "renewable" resource. However, when sunlight hits the Earth, it can be stored in a number of different forms!

When sunlight hits water, the Sun evaporates the water from lakes, rivers and oceans. The water vapor forms clouds in the atmosphere. The clouds drop the evaporated water as rain, which falls back to Earth. Some of the rainwater runs down hills and into rivers, where we can capture the water and use the running water to power waterwheels and hydroelectric dams. So recycled sunlight is the ultimate source of hydroelectric power!

When the sunlight hits fields, this helps crops to grow. We eat the food from the crops, or cattle eat the plants and we eat the animals. So, our bodies use recycled sunlight for power!

Millions of years ago, the sunlight helped plants to grow, and over the course of millions of years, layers of decayed plant material (and the decayed bodies of the animals that ate the plants) settled into the Earth. Our "fossil" fuels such as coal and oil are now burned to release the stored sunlight energy.

So in a real sense, ALL energy is solar energy; simply converted from one form to another.

Answer 6

you can't reuse it if u have it at the moment but u can get it again the next day when the sun rises again. well actually u have the sun out for hours for a whole day so......

Answer 7

It is renewable because it will not run out in our lifetimes.

Answer 8

Sunlight is a constant resource. If the sun goes, there won't be any humans to use the resource. Don't worry, though, the sun's going to be around for a long, long time.

Answer 9

Sunlight isn't a renewable resource, because once it's gone, you can't get more.

Answer 10

No, it can't renew itself. It will eventually run out of fuel.