Question

Why do petroleum and coal need to be used carefully? Are they non-renewable?

Answer 1

The management of coal and petroleum energy sources involves slightly different perspectives from those resources discussed earlier. Coal and petroleum were formed from the degradation of bio-mass millions of years ago and hence these are resources that will be exhausted in the future no matter how carefully we use them. And then we would need to look for alternative sources of energy. Various estimates as to how long these resources will last us exist and one is that at present rates of usage, our known petroleum resources will last us for about forty years and the coal resources will last for another two hundred years.