What’s The Deal With Renewable Resources?

“Renewable resources” is a phrase that seems to be one of the big buzz words in discussions on sustainability, the environment and related green discussions.  But what are renewable resources anyway and what is the big deal about them?

First of all, it’s important to work out what a renewable resource is and isn’t.  Basically, a renewable resource is something that people can use (a resource) and whatever it is, it won’t get used up or exhausted (it’s renewable).  Typical things that spring to mind as renewable resources include:

• sunshine – no matter how much solar energy we use, the sun won’t stop shining (at least for another few million years or so)
• wind – as long as the sun keeps shining and the planet has an atmosphere, we will have wind.
• tide – powered by the moon and wind, this should continue for a while longer, too

Some things are definitely not renewable resources.  These are things that can be used up, and we can’t create any more (or if we can, it’s only with difficulty).  What’s more, they are resources that we are using up.  Most of the world’s mineral resources are non-renewable resources – once we’ve dug them all up, we won’t be getting more.  Examples of non-renewable resources include:

• metals
• fossil fuels (crude oil, coal and natural gas)
• plastics (a by-product of fossil fuel refining)
• other mineral resources, e.g. silicone
• landmass
• rocks (e.g. for roading)

Some things are sort of renewable resources.  These are things such as water and vegetation.  Water, for example, can’t be destroyed by using it.  Whether we drink it, heat it or turn it into steam, it will still come back via the water cycle for re-use.  However, good clean drinking water is a non-renewable resource in some areas, as is fresh water.  Remember the line in The Ancient Mariner about “water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink”? It happens today.  Even water for hydroelectricity, which is often given as an example of a renewable resource, depends on having enough water from rain or snowmelt in the dams to meet energy needs – and we can’t do anything to ensure that enough rain falls.  But using the water for hydro electricity does not use it up – more rain will fall (barring massive climate change), so water is in many ways a renewable resource.

Vegetation is another semi-renewable resource.  It is indeed possible to grow more trees and more vegetation.  However, this re-planting has to be done at the same rate at which timber (or other vegetation) is harvested or cleared so erosion can be prevented and enough greenery is in the world to keep the carbon cycle nicely balanced.  Some people (including the British Friends of the Earth) have argued that using wood for fuel (in heating) is one of the more environmentally friendly options – in spite of the smoke it produces – because using firewood encourages people to plant more trees.

Vegetation is a renewable resource in another way: not only is it easy to plant and manage more forests if we use wood for building, heating, paper, etc, the waste products from vegetation rot down and get used again – even wood will break down and go back into nature’s great recycling chain eventually.