Non-renewable energy sources

Substitution of non-renewable energy sources by renewable ones. 

The major alternative is coal but this is also a non-renewable energy source with a predicted useful lifetime of about 200 years. 

Non-renewable energy sources Sources of energy, such as fossil fuels, which take millions of years to form and which we are using up at a rapid rate. 

The mineral coal reserves are one of the most important non-renewable energy sources in the world [3]. The same is true when it refers to the Brazilian energy context where they represent 60% of our non-renewable energy sources. The largest reserves are located in South Brazil and, as in other countries with large coal reserves, SCFE is here proposed as an upgrading process for Brazilian mineral coal. 

By using corn as a feedstock and employing current fermentation technology, the environmental benefits of producing PHAs are questionable even under rather favorable assumptions. While the biological production from renewable resources certainly has the potential to conserve fossil resources, the case study submitted in this paper demonstrates that such an approach can also have the reverse effect. Therefore future assessments of biological processes have to incorporate not only the use of raw materials, which are mostly renewable, but also address the indirect consumption of non-renewable energy sources required to cany out such a process. 

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