4.1 – Energy and Mineral Resources renewable resources can be replenished over fairly short spans of time – such as months, years, or decades nonrenewable resources take millions of years to form and accumulate

fossil fuels are called that because they formed from the fossilized remains of prehistoric plants and animals provide around 66% of the world's electrical power and 95% of the world's total energy demands includes coal, oil, and natural gas

How Fossil Fuels Work coal is crushed to a fine dust and burnt oil and gas can be burnt directly

coal provides around 11% of world wide energy and oil provides 40% crude oil (called "petroleum") is easier to get out of the ground than coal because it can flow in pipes makes it cheaper to transport, too

natural gas provides around 15% of the world's consumption of energy

Advantages to Using Fossil Fuels very large amounts of electricity can be generated in one place using coal and is fairly cheap transporting oil and gas to the power stations is easy

gas-fired power stations are efficient power stations powered by fossil fuels can be built almost anywhere

Disadvantages of Using Fossil Fuels main drawback of fossil fuels is pollution burning any fossil fuel produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to the "greenhouse effect", warming the Earth

burning coal produces sulfur dioxide, a gas that contributes to acid rain United States imports 55% of its oil so oil spills are a serious problem mining coal can be difficult and dangerous & strip mining destroys large areas of the landscape

fossil fuels are NOT a renewable energy resource Is it Renewable? fossil fuels are NOT a renewable energy resource Once we've burned them all, there isn't any more, and our consumption of fossil fuels has nearly doubled every 20 years since 1900! This is a particular problem for oil, because we also use it to make plastics and many other products.

some of the most important mineral deposits form through igneous processes and from hydrothermal solutions ore is a useful metallic mineral that can be mined at a profit nonmetallic mineral resources are extracted and processed either for the nonmetallic elements they contain or for their physical and chemical properties

Uses of Nonmetallic Minerals