Non-renewable resource in the context of Mining operations

Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. The ore must be a rock or mineral that contains a valuable constituent, can be extracted or mined and sold for profit. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water.

Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials, and final reclamation or restoration of the land after the mine is closed. Mining materials are often obtained from ore bodies, lodes, veins, seams, reefs, or placer deposits. The exploitation of these deposits for raw materials is dependent on investment, labor, energy, refining, and transportation cost.

Ecological sanitation, commonly abbreviated as ecosan (also spelled eco-san or EcoSan), and also known as circular sanitation as a reference to the circular economy, is an approach to sanitation provision which aims to safely reuse excreta in agriculture. It is an approach, rather than a technology or a device which is characterized by a desire to "close the loop", mainly for the nutrients and organic matter between sanitation and agriculture in a safe manner. One of the aims is to minimise the use of non-renewable resources. When properly designed and operated, ecosan systems provide a hygienically safe system to convert human excreta into nutrients to be returned to the soil, and water to be returned to the land. Ecosan is also called resource-oriented sanitation.

A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geological formations. Reservoirs of such compound mixtures, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas, can be extracted and burnt as fuel for human consumption to provide energy for direct use (such as for cooking, heating or lighting), to power heat engines (such as steam or internal combustion engines) that can propel vehicles, or to generate electricity via steam turbine generators. Some fossil fuels are further refined into derivatives such as kerosene, gasoline and diesel, or converted into petrochemicals such as polyolefins (plastics), aromatics and synthetic resins.

The origin of fossil fuels is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The conversion from these organic materials to high-carbon fossil fuels is typically the result of a geological process of millions of years. Due to the length of time it takes for them to form, fossil fuels are considered non-renewable resources.

Resource efficiency is the maximising of the supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively, with minimum wasted (natural) resource expenses. It means using the Earth's limited resources in a sustainable manner while minimising environmental impact. Natural resource efficiency is embedded into the work of initiatives like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and international strategies such as the European Union's "Green Deal".

Resource consumption is about the consumption of non-renewable, or less often, renewable resources. Specifically, it may refer to:

• water consumption
• energy consumption
  • electric energy consumption
  • world energy consumption
• natural gas consumption/gas depletion
• oil consumption/oil depletion
• logging/deforestation
• fishing/overfishing
• land use/land loss or
• resource depletion and
• general exploitation and associated environmental degradation

Measures of resource consumption are resource intensity and resource efficiency. Industrialization and globalized markets have increased the tendency for overconsumption of resources. The resource consumption rate of a nation does not usually correspond with the primary resource availability, this is called resource curse.

Primary energy (PE) is the energy found in nature that has not been subjected to any human engineered conversion process. It encompasses energy contained in raw fuels and other forms of energy, including waste, received as input to a system. Primary energy can be non-renewable or renewable.

Total primary energy supply (TPES) is the sum of production and imports, plus or minus stock changes, minus exports and international bunker storage.The International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES) prefers total energy supply (TES) to refer to this indicator. These expressions are often used to describe the total energy supply of a national territory.

Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and society. These impacts range from greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution to energy poverty and toxic waste. Renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal energy can cause environmental damage but are generally far more sustainable than fossil fuel sources.

The role of non-renewable energy sources in sustainable energy is controversial. Nuclear power does not produce carbon pollution or air pollution, but has drawbacks that include radioactive waste, the risk of nuclear proliferation, and the risk of accidents. Switching from coal to natural gas has environmental benefits, including a lower climate impact, but may lead to a delay in switching to more sustainable options. Carbon capture and storage can be built into power plants to remove their carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, but this technology is expensive and has rarely been implemented.

This article lists the largest power stations in the world, the ten overall and the five of each type, in terms of installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear fuel, natural gas, oil shale and peat, while renewable power stations run on fuel sources such as biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, and wind. Only the most significant fuel source is listed for power stations that run on multiple sources.

As of 2025, the largest power generating facility ever built is the Three Gorges Dam in China, completed in 2012. The facility generates power by utilizing 32 Francis turbines for a total capacity of 22,500 MW. The eight largest power stations are also hydroelectric dams, beginning with Baihetan Dam, at 16,000 MW, also in China. The largest natural gas plant is Jebel Ali, UAE (8,695 MW) and the largest coal plant is Tuoketuo, China (6,720 MW). The largest nuclear plant is Kori, South Korea (7,489 MW) following the 2011 suspension of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, Japan (7,965 MW).

Renewable fuels are fuels produced from renewable resources. Examples include: biofuels (e.g. Vegetable oil used as fuel, ethanol, methanol from clean energy and carbon dioxide or biomass, and biodiesel), Hydrogen fuel (when produced with renewable processes), and fully synthetic fuel (also known as electrofuel) produced from ambient carbon dioxide and water. This is in contrast to non-renewable fuels such as natural gas, LPG (propane), petroleum and other fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Renewable fuels can include fuels that are synthesized from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. Renewable fuels have gained in popularity due to their sustainability, low contributions to the carbon cycle, and in some cases lower amounts of greenhouse gases. The geo-political ramifications of these fuels are also of interest, particularly to industrialized economies which desire independence from Middle Eastern oil.

Sand theft or unauthorised or illegal sand mining leads to a relatively unknown global example of natural and non-renewable resource depletion problem comparable in extent to global water scarcity. Beach theft is illegal removal of large quantities of sand from a beach leading to full or partial disappearance of the beach. In India, illegal sand mining is the country's largest organized criminal activity. Sand theft feeds the illegal sand trade, a black market estimated to be worth between $200B and $350B a year.