• Question: what is the best non renewable rescource

    Asked by 09tolat1 to Becky, Carrie, Kelly, Robin, Usaid on 14 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by 09riceb1, 09glena1.
    • Photo: Robin Stafford Allen

      Robin Stafford Allen answered on 11 Mar 2012:

      @09tolat1: The best non renewable resource we have for energy has been oil and gas, and nuclear fission has been fantastic. About 80% of all the electricity generated and used in France comes from nuclear fission, but they are the only country to go this far. These energy sources leave a legacy of problems. Oil and gas leave carbon in the atmosphere that can affect the climate, and fission leaves very long-lived waste which is a problem. Fusion holds the promise of a much cleaner energy in that it is almost unlimited in fuel, and does not appear to leave any waste lasting more than about 50 years to worry about. However fusion only works in very big machines, so we will not be seeing a Delorean powered by fusion as in Back to the Future for a while yet unless we make a startling new discovery Hope this helps. regards Robin

    • Photo: Becky Selwyn

      Becky Selwyn answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      All non-renewable resources have their problems, as Robin has pointed out. I agree that if engineers can get fusion working it could be by far the best resource, but until then nothing is perfect and we should keep working to reduce carbon emissions by making power stations more efficient, and trying to capture any carbon that is released so that it doesn’t end up in the atmosphere.

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