Over the past 100 years, the amount of energy used in the United
States and else where has greatly increased. Today, a number of
energy sources are available, such as coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear
energy, hydroelectric power, wind, and solar energy. Some of these
energy sources are being used up and are nonrenewable, but others
are replaced as fast as they are used and, therefore, are renewable.
Some energy sources are so vast that human usage has almost no effect
on the amount available. These energy sources are inexhaustible.
Think about the types of energy you use at home and school every
day. In this activity, you will investigate how and where energy
is produced, and how it gets to you. You will also investigate alternative
ways energy can be produced, and whether these sources are renewable,
nonrenewable, or inexhaustible. What are the sources of the energy
you use every day?
When you wake up in the morning and turn on a light, you use electrical
energy. When you ride to school in a car or bus, its engine consumes
chemical energy. What other types of energy do you use? Where is
that energy produced? Which energy sources are nonrenewable, which
are renewable, and which are inexhaustible? What are other sources
of energy that you could use instead?
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