There are 5 criteria individuals and people involved with corporations and businesses should take into consideration before determining if utilization of non renewable energy sources is the correct thing for them.
These 5 criteria are availability, energy yield, cost, environment and renewable. For those of us who are just starting to jump on the bandwagon of environmentalism and being ‘green’ many of these things seem to make sense.
For people who have been recycling and composting for generations these criteria may seem obvious. However, many people do not know how to determine the availability of non renewable energy resources.
And, there are many people who do not have any idea what to expect as far as what non renewable energy sources would cost and if they could afford utilizing non renewable energy sources into their budget. People who are just jumping on the ‘green’ bandwagon will undoubtedly have no idea what is meant by the criteria of ‘energy yield’.
First of all think about the availability of the non renewable energy source. For example, the energy source currently available to you and if so, how long will it be available to you? Fifteen years? Fifty years? More than fifty years?
Then consider the energy yield. This means consider how much other energy is needed to utilize the non renewable energy source you are considering utilizing.
If quite a bit of other energy sources are needed to utilize the non renewable energy resource in question you are probably better off not utilizing that non renewable energy resources as it would be counter-productive.
Consider the cost involved in utilizing the non renewable energy resource. Would it cost a lot to manufacture and would it take a lot of energy to manufacture the non renewable energy source?
Are the high technologies needed to manufacture the non renewable energy resource in question? These are all important and relevant things to consider while determining if the non renewable energy source is something to use.
Consider how the energy source in question will affect the environment and if transporting the source will affect the environment. Will the environment be negatively affected by anything in the process of making, manufacturing or transporting the non renewable energy source?
Finally consider if the energy source is really renewable and consider if it is sustainable. For example ask yourself if you run out of this particular source is it something you should develop and use?
