A renewable resource (also known as a flow resource) is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale. It is also known as non conventional energy resources. When the recovery rate of resources is unlikely to ever exceed a human time scale, these are called perpetual resources. Renewable resources are a part of Earth's natural environment and the largest components of its ecosphere. A positive life-cycle assessment applies to the production of agricultural products and, to an extent, water resources.What are "Renewable Resources"?, by A. John Armstrong, Esq. & Dr. Jan Hamrin, Chapter 1, The Renewable Energy Policy Manual, Organization of American States, undated. Retrieved 2013-01-05. In 1962, Paul Alfred Weiss defined renewable resources as: "The total range of living organisms providing man with life, fibres, etc...". Another type of renewable resources is renewable energy resources. Common sources of renewable energy include solar, geothermal and wind power, which are all categorized as renewable resources. Fresh water is an example of a renewable resource.
Air, food and water Water resources
Water can be considered a renewable material when usage, temperature, treatment, and release are carefully controlled. Otherwise, it becomes a non-renewable resource at that location. For example, as groundwater is usually removed from an aquifer at a rate much greater than its very slow natural recharge, it is considered a non-renewable resource. Removal of water from the pore spaces in aquifers may cause permanent compaction (subsidence) that cannot be renewed. 97.5% of Earth's water is salt water, and 3% is fresh water; slightly over two-thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is found mainly as groundwater, with only a small fraction (0.008%) present above ground or in the air.
Water pollution is one of the main concerns regarding water resources. It is estimated that industry uses 22% of global water. Major industrial users include hydroelectric dams, thermoelectric power plants (which use water for cooling), ore and oil refineries (which use water in chemical processes) and manufacturing plants (which use water as a solvent), it is also used for dumping garbage.
Desalination of seawater is considered a renewable water source, although it needs to reduce its dependence on fossil-fuel energy to be fully renewable.
Non agricultural food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. Most food has its origin in renewable resources. Food is obtained directly from plants and animals.
Hunting may not be the first source of meat in the modernised world, but it is still an important and essential source for many rural and remote groups. It is also the sole food source for wild carnivores.Mammals: Carnivores. Duane E. Ullrey. Encyclopedia of Animal Science.
Sustainable agriculture
The phrase sustainable agriculture was coined by Australian agricultural scientist Gordon McClymont. It has been defined as "an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will last over the long term".Gold, M. (July 2009). What is Sustainable Agriculture?. United States Department of Agriculture, Alternative Farming Systems Information Center. Expansion of agricultural land reduces biodiversity and contributes to deforestation. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that in coming decades, cropland will continue to be lost to industrial and urban development, along with reclamation of wetlands, and conversion of forest to cultivation, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and increased soil erosion.
Although air and sunlight are available everywhere on Earth, crops also depend on soil nutrients and the availability of water. Monoculture is a method of growing only one crop at a time in a given field, which can damage land and make it unusable or reduce yields. Monoculture can also cause the build-up of pathogens and pests that target one specific species. The Great Irish Famine (1845–1849) is a well-known example of the dangers of monoculture.
Crop rotation and long-term crop rotations confer the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals and other crops, and can improve soil structure and fertility by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants. Other methods to combat lost soil nutrients are returning to natural cycles that annually flood cultivated lands (returning lost nutrients indefinitely), such as the Flooding of the Nile, the long-term use of biochar, and use of crop and livestock landraces that are adapted to less than ideal conditions such as pests, drought, or lack of nutrients.
Poor tillage practices can increase soil erosion rates. It is estimated that "more than a thousand million tonnes of southern Africa's soil are eroded every year. Experts predict that crop yields will be halved within thirty to fifty years if erosion continues at present rates." The Dust Bowl phenomenon in the 1930s was caused by severe drought combined with farming methods that did not include crop rotation, fallow fields, cover crops, soil terracing and wind-breaking trees to prevent wind erosion.
The tillage of agricultural lands is one of the primary contributing factors to erosion, due to mechanised agricultural equipment that allows for deep plowing, which severely increases the amount of soil that is available for transport by water erosion. The phenomenon called peak soil describes how large-scale factory farming techniques are affecting humanity's ability to grow food in the future. Without efforts to improve soil management practices, the availability of arable soil may become increasingly problematic.
Methods to combat erosion include no-till farming, using a keyline design, growing wind breaks to hold the soil, and widespread use of compost. Fertilizers and pesticides can also have an effect of soil erosion, which can contribute to soil salinity and prevent other species from growing. Phosphate is a primary component in the chemical fertiliser applied most commonly in modern agricultural production. However, scientists estimate that rock phosphate reserves will be depleted in 50–100 years and that Peak Phosphate will occur in about 2030.
Industrial processing and logistics also have an effect on agriculture's sustainability. The way and locations crops are sold requires energy for transportation, as well as the energy cost for materials, labour, and transport. Food sold at a local location, such a farmers' market, have reduced energy overheads.
Air Air is a renewable resource. All living organisms need oxygen, nitrogen (directly or indirectly), carbon (directly or indirectly) and many other gases in small quantities for their survival.
Non-food resources
An important renewable resource is wood, provided by means of forestry, which has been used for construction, housing, and firewood since ancient times. Wood The fuel of the future Environmental lunacy in Europe, Economist title story Apr 6th 2013 Plants provide the main sources for renewable resources, the main distinction is between energy crops and non-food crops. A large variety of lubricants, industrially used vegetable oils, textiles and fibre made e.g. of cotton, copra or hemp, paper derived from wood, rags or grasses, bioplastic are based on plant renewable resources. A large variety of chemical based products like latex, ethanol, resin, sugar and starch can be provided with plant renewables. Animal based renewables include fur, leather, technical fat and lubricants and further derived products, as e.g. animal glue, tendons, casings or in historical times ambra and baleen provided by whaling.
With regard to pharmacy ingredients and legal and illegal drugs, plants are important sources, however e.g. venom of snakes, frogs and insects has been a valuable renewable source of pharmacological ingredients. Before GMO production set in, insulin and important hormones were based on animal sources. Feathers, an important byproduct of poultry farming for food, is still being used as filler and as base for keratin in general. Same applies for the chitin produced in farming Crustaceans which may be used as base of chitosan. The most important part of the human body used for non-medical purposes is human hair as for artificial hair integrations, which is being traded worldwide.
Historical role
Historically, renewable resources like firewood, latex, guano, charcoal, wood ash, plant colors as indigo, and whale products have been crucial for human needs but failed to supply demand in the beginning of the industrial era. Early modern times faced large problems with overuse of renewable resources as in deforestation, overgrazing or overfishing.
In addition to fresh meat and milk, which as food items are not the topic of this section, livestock farmers and artisans used further animal ingredients as tendons, horn, bones, bladders. Complex technical constructions as the composite bow were based on combination of animal and plant based materials. The current distribution conflict between biofuel and food production is being described as Food vs. fuel. Conflicts between food needs and usage, as supposed by fief obligations were in so far common in historical times as well.A short history of livestock production, J. Hartung, in Livestock housing, Modern management to ensure optimal health and welfare of farm animals, edited by: Andres Aland and Thomas Banhazi, © 2013 However, a significant percentage of (middle European) farmers yields went into livestock, which provides as well organic fertiliser.Gustav Comberg, Die deutsche Tierzucht im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Ulmer, 1984, , (History of livestock breeding in Germany) Oxen and horses were important for transportation purposes, drove engines as e.g. in treadmills.
Other regions solved the transportation problem with terracing, urban and garden agriculture.Nature and Power: A Global History of the Environment. By Joachim Radkau. Publications of the German Historical Institute Series. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008 Further conflicts as between forestry and herding, or (sheep) herders and cattle farmers led to various solutions. Some confined wool production and sheep to large state and nobility domains or outsourced to professional shepherds with larger wandering herds.Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte. 2, Band 0, Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte, Reiner Prass, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1958, p. 58
The British Agricultural Revolution was mainly based on a new system of crop rotation, the four-field rotation. British agriculturist Charles Townshend recognised the invention in Dutch Waasland and popularised it in the 18th century UK, George Washington Carver in the USA. The system used wheat, turnips and barley and introduced as well clover. Clover is able to fix nitrogen from air, a practically non exhaustive renewable resource, into fertilizing compounds to the soil and allowed to increase yields by large. Farmers opened up a fodder crop and grazing crop. Thus livestock could to be bred year-round and winter culling was avoided. The amount of manure rose and allowed more crops but to refrain from wood pasture.