Non-renewable raw material

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Non-renewable raw materials are raw materials for which the speed of their consumption exceeds the speed of their regeneration . The contrast is the renewable raw materials .

General

The range of a raw material, i.e. its availability over time, results from the comparison of the consumption and regeneration speed. This is because the deposits of non-renewable raw materials have only quantitatively limited raw material deposits, so that a high level of consumption causes these deposits to shrink without further deposits being discovered. If the consumption significantly exceeds the regeneration, these raw materials belong to the non-renewable raw materials. In this sense, fossil fuels are not renewable at the current rate of consumption. The period under consideration is decisive for the distinction between renewable and non-renewable raw materials. For example, oil is a non-renewable resource over a 100,000 year horizon , but a renewable resource over a million years.

Ortwin Renn exaggerated the consumption-related shortage as follows: "Non-renewable energy resources can be used until the sum of the exploited raw materials exceeds the sum of the additional reserves found at the respective point in time or, through foreseeable improvements in know-how, additional economically viable resources" . Since the exploitation of non-renewable raw materials will be limited in time, they do not correspond to the principle of sustainability .

species

The non-renewable raw materials include all mineral raw materials, i.e. inorganic raw materials that occur naturally as part of the earth's crust or mantle . There are three groups of mineral and one group of organic raw materials:

Metallic raw materials

Ores are the most important mineral raw materials. Iron , aluminum and steel (as a product of iron and steel refiners ) form the basic raw materials in machine , ship and automobile construction . Precious metals such as gold , silver , platinum or palladium are not only crucial for the jewelry industry , but together with copper , tin and semiconductors form the basis of the electrical industry and electronics . Energy is generated from uranium in nuclear power plants.

Rocks / sediments

As rocks or sediments , for example, clay , sand , gravel , graphite , asbestos and diamond called. They are mainly in construction and civil engineering quantitatively significant.

Salts

Salts such as potash , phosphates or rock salt are often used in the food and chemical industries .

Organic raw materials

Another group is made up of raw materials derived from organic material, namely fossil raw materials . These include the fossil fuels coal , crude oil and natural gas . They serve as fuel and fuel in power plants , vehicles , ships and aircraft , and as a feedstock for the chemical industry.

Measures to reduce consumption

Concerns about resource shortages led to suggestions on how to mitigate them: “In general, the utilization rate should take into account how critical the inventory of these resources is, whether technologies are available to minimize their use, and the likelihood of substitutes To be available". There is the possibility of reducing the consumption of non-renewable raw materials on the one hand through more efficient use and / or on the other hand through the use of substitute goods:

This can prevent the existing stocks of non-renewable raw materials from being depleted too much. “As for non-renewable resources like fossil fuels and minerals, their use reduces the resources available for future generations . However, that does not mean that such resources should not be used ”.

consequences

Non-renewable raw materials are subject to a particular scarcity , so that there can be a tendency for them to fluctuate more strongly due to market tightness when there is demand . Their extraction or mining tends to become less and less economical because the increasing sales proceeds of these raw materials are offset by disproportionately increasing mining costs. In turn, scarcer raw materials lead to higher raw material costs for companies , so that the raw material shortage increases the general price level ( inflation ). Although the measures described to reduce consumption lead to an extension of the range of these raw materials, they are shifting their scarcity problem to future generations.

literature

  • German Bundestag (ed.): Globalization of the world economy. Final report of the study commission, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 978-3-663-10181-9 .
  • Christiane Bingel: The economy of non-renewable resources. 1st edition, Grin Verlag, Norderstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-640-50192-2 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herwig Unnerstall, Rights of Future Generations , 1999, p. 133
  2. ↑ Ortwin Renn, A regional concept of qualitative growth , report from the Academy for Technology Assessment in Baden-Württemberg 3/1994, 1994, p. 22
  3. ^ State publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development , 1988, p. 59
  4. ↑ Hartmut Bossel, Environmental Knowledge: Data, Facts, Connections , 1994, p. 110
  5. ^ Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Reports on the Negotiations , Volume 122, Issue 3, 1990, p. 33