What are nonrenewable sources of energy?
Nonrenewable sources are those based on a finite amount of pre-existing “fuel”. By “fuel” we mean any substance which stores energy, for example, gasoline, kerosene, natural gas, uranium, and firewood are all examples of fuel – firewood being the only renewable fuel is this list. The primary nonrenewable fuels are: • Fossil Fuels: Natural Gas, Oil, and Coal – These three fuels are the leftovers from plants and animals that lived millions of years ago – hence the name “fossil fuels”. They are all “carbon-based”, that is, they consist primary of compounds made of carbon and hydrogen derived from the bodies of ancient plants and animals. Natural gas is the gaseous form (small molecules, consisting of one or two carbon atoms each), oil is the liquid form (several carbon atoms per molecule), and coal is the solid form (many carbon atoms per molecule). Although they are a form of stored solar energy (because their energy originally came from the sun through photosynthesis), they are consider
