Our Environment Contents

4. Resources

Non-renewable resources can be replenished only on exceedingly long timescales - so long that once a resource has been utilised, it cannot naturally be replenished within human lifetimes.

Coal

Examples of non-renewable resources include oil, coal and mineral ores. Some materials derived from non-renewable resources can be recycled, and in principle can as such be sustainably exploited. For some other materials, sustainability can be achieved only by artificial means: for example by chemical synthesis, or by developing substitutes.

Can you identify three examples of non-renewable resources?