The renewable resources They are all those factors that satisfy a human need and can be replaced at a rate equal to or greater than their consumption. Renewable resources include renewable energies and renewable materials and elements.
However, there are no infinite resources since if they are subjected to extreme overexploitation or their natural cycle is affected, they will disappear. That is why today the importance of sustainable development is highlighted, starting from a rational use of resources.
In any case, renewable resources are characterized by responding to natural cycles, either biogeochemical cycles or biological cycles. Among these resources are renewable energies such as solar, wind, hydraulic, wave power and geothermal energy..
Likewise, they are material renewable resources such as biological organisms and their derivatives (biodiversity) or inorganic elements (water, soil, oxygen, hydrogen).
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All the countries of the world, depending on their geographical location and natural history, have certain renewable resources. These are economically valuable and fundamental for the development of nations.
For example, Mexico is one of the countries considered megadiverse, that is, it has great biological diversity. This country has a special wealth in agricultural and livestock items, being a center for the domestication of species such as corn and beans..
These living organisms represent biological resources that this country has, for food, medicinal and industrial purposes. Mexico also has renewable energy sources, especially solar energy.
In Europe, the case of Spain stands out, since it is the country with the greatest biodiversity on this continent and is one of those that has most promoted renewable energies.
Continuing through Latin America, countries like Colombia, Peru and Venezuela are also megadiverse countries. Their territories are covered in more than 50% by tropical forests, which assigns them a wealth of very important biological resources..
On the other hand, these countries cover their electricity demand with hydroelectric energy by 65%, 40% and 70% respectively. Peru specifically, is another center of origin and diversity of agricultural species, such as the potato.
Already in the extreme south of the American continent, Argentina is a country that stands out for its wealth in renewable agricultural and livestock resources.
Renewable resources in their production follow regular cycles at rates that exceed human consumption. In this sense, the production cycle of the resource makes it possible to replace the quantities that have been consumed and renew them..
Renewable energy resources obey regular sources such as solar energy or secondary sources also originated by solar energy. In the case of geothermal energy, it responds to the heat released by the magma center of the planet.
Both solar energy and that provided by the molten center of the Earth, are finite energies in the very long term. However, on a human scale, both sources of energy are continuous and therefore renewable..
Not all renewable resources exist in nature in quantities similar to solar energy, to be considered inexhaustible on a human scale. Some, such as biodiversity or soils, depend on the rate of use or consumption.
Although these resources follow replacement cycles, sustainable use is required because an oversized consumption rate transforms them into non-renewable resources..
For example, a medicinal plant if it is extracted from nature at rates higher than the reproduction of its populations, it becomes extinct. In this sense, the resource would be lost, with no possibility of renewal.
Therefore, today we start from the principle that all resources must be subjected to sustainable use. This implies maintaining a balance based on its replacement rate, in order to avoid its depletion..
Solar energy is exhaustible in a cosmic period, since within 5 billion years the sun will turn off, but on a human scale it is replenished day by day in a regular cycle.
On the other hand, it is a clean energy (it does not generate polluting waste) and can be used to drive steam engines or produce electrical energy.
Wind energy responds to the force of winds, which in turn obey atmospheric currents. These are generated by differential solar heating of the earth's surface.
The winds are capable of driving blades that in turn move turbines with generators that transform this movement into electrical energy..
It is the energy generated by the force of the waves of the sea and for which there are various technological options and it can be transformed into mechanical energy or accumulated as electrical energy. In some cases the push of the waves activates turbines and in others it allows water to accumulate in tanks that later activate turbines by gravity..
Hydraulic energy combines the water cycle, driven by the evaporation of water, solar energy and the force of gravity. Water evaporates from existing reservoirs (oceans, lakes, rivers), is carried away by air currents and then condenses and precipitates.
When the water falls in the upper levels, it drains by gravity, is accumulated in dams and forced to pass through turbines. In this way the energy of falling water is transformed into mechanical energy which in turn is converted into electrical energy.
In the process of condensation of the cosmic dust that formed the planet during the constitution of the solar system, high temperatures and pressures acted. During millions of years the earth's crust was cooling and consolidating, but its center still remains in a state of very hot semi-fluid matter..
In this earth's core there are extremely high temperatures that emit heat through the earth's layers to the surface. Today there are technologies to take advantage of that heat from underground layers, generating steam to move turbines.
From plant matter it is possible to obtain ethanol (alcohol), which is a fuel that can be used for various purposes. One of the most common uses is as an additive in gasoline.
There are a series of natural resources that respond to both biogeochemical cycles and biological cycles that guarantee their periodic renewal..
Water is a vital resource, being required by human beings for direct consumption, agriculture and breeding, and industrial uses. Water follows a biogeochemical cycle and living beings consume it, use it in their physiological processes and excrete it in the form of vapor or liquid..
On the other hand, the water that is found in natural reservoirs and is not consumed by living beings, evaporates and passes into the atmosphere. As it rises to the upper layers of the atmosphere and decreases the temperature, it condenses and precipitates forming rain.
The water flows through the land relief to the oceanic depressions so it is a resource that is cyclically renewed, being available in general terms for its use.
Like water, oxygen fulfills a biogeochemical cycle, in which photosynthetic organisms play the fundamental role. The earth's atmosphere was initially poor in oxygen, but later this element increased its concentration due to the photosynthesis process..
From this moment on, the vast majority of organisms on the planet are aerobic and therefore oxygen became a fundamental resource for them..
Similar to oxygen, hydrogen is an element that follows a biogeochemical cycle, which is an indissoluble part of the water cycle. The uses of this resource are diverse and for example together with oxygen it forms part of the fuel of spacecraft.
Likewise, it is used as liquid hydrogen and has the advantage that as a waste it produces only water, so it is not polluting.
Soils are a fundamental resource insofar as they support agricultural and livestock activities. In this sense, the factors that assign the value of the soil resource are basically its fertility and moisture retention capacity..
This in turn is determined by its structure, organic matter content, cation exchange capacity, pH and other variables..
Thus, any significant alteration in these factors or variables deteriorates the soil as a natural resource. In some cases, deficiencies or alterations can be corrected and the resource is renewed as a loss of fertility that can be solved by adding fertilizers.
However, a serious alteration such as the erosion of the fertile layer is much more difficult to solve and the resource would be irretrievably lost..
Biodiversity is the totality of living organisms that exist on the planet and represents a fundamental natural resource for human beings. We are part of biodiversity and to live we need to consume other living organisms or their derivatives.
We use plants, animals, bacteria and fungi to make medicines that cure our diseases. In addition, we use materials from living beings for construction, such as wood, or to make writing paper..
Today great importance is given to the wealth in genetic resources of a country due to the potential it represents for food, medicine and industry. On the other hand, living beings are a fundamental part of biogeochemical cycles that guarantee other renewable resources such as water and oxygen..
The biodiversity resource responds to a biological cycle of reproduction that allows its renewal and that works as long as said cycle is not exceeded by the rate of consumption. Therefore, it is a renewable resource, as long as it is subjected to a rational and sustainable use..
Cultivated plants are part of biodiversity, but differ from wild plant diversity in that they depend on human management to survive. The crops come from wild species that have been selected and manipulated by humans to enhance certain characteristics as a resource.
Unlike the rest of biodiversity, different crops are a renewable resource to the extent that they are used. If a crop stops being produced, in most cases it will be destined to disappear because it has lost the ability to survive in the wild..
Many cultivated species suffer a process of genetic erosion (loss of their genetic diversity) as part of their varieties disappear. For example, non-commercial corn varieties are disappearing because they are not cultivated, by prioritizing certain hybrids demanded by agribusiness.
To avoid the loss of resources in this way, germplasm banks are created where seeds of these little-cultivated varieties are kept..
As with crops, humans have domesticated animal species for more than 10,000 years. This in order to provide food or other resources, such as skins or motive power or transportation..
Likewise, breeding animals due to domestication have lost many of the characteristics that allowed them to survive in the wild. In this sense, those species or races that are no longer the object of breeding tend to disappear..
One type of renewable resource that is currently gaining popularity are bioplastics, as substitutes for plastics derived from petroleum. Bioplastics are produced from plant products and in this sense are renewable and biodegradable resources.
Mexico is among the 10 countries in the world with the highest growth rate in wind power generation. Likewise, this country is a leader in Latin America in the use of solar energy.
Mexico is one of the 17 megadiverse countries, hosting between 10 and 12% of the planet's species. This constitutes an accumulation of very valuable renewable resources for the economy of this country..
Only in plants this country has more than 26,000 species and 34% of its territory is covered by forests.
Regarding agricultural resources, it is enough to mention that Mexico is one of the centers of origin and domestication of many cultivated plants. About 120 cultivated species were originally domesticated in Mexico as corn (Zea mays) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris).
Mexico has achieved high production in cattle (meat and milk), poultry (meat and eggs), pigs, goats and sheep. It also has an important production of turkey or turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), with nearly 4 million of this species endemic to the United States and Mexico.
On the other hand, it is the second largest producer of pigs in Latin America and in beekeeping production (honey) it has more than 2 million productive hives.
Spain has made significant progress in the development of renewable energies, especially hydroelectric, wind and solar energy, and in 2018 it reached the goal of generating 40% of its electrical energy through renewable energies. Likewise, of the total primary energies used in this country, 13.9% are renewable.
As a Mediterranean country and given its proximity to Africa, Spain is the country with the greatest biological diversity in Europe. It has about 10,000 plant species and more than 36% of its geography is covered with forests.
Traditionally, this country has had a fairly developed agricultural sector and has important resources in areas such as vegetables, olive (Olea europaea) and the vine (Vitis vinifera).
In animal production, pigs stand out, with breeds with a designation of origin such as the Iberian pig. In the sheep sector there is also a long productive tradition with breeds such as the La Mancha sheep and the Merino sheep..
While in the case of bovine production there are various breeds native to Spain such as the Asturian mountain, the Avilanian-black Iberian, the Galician blonde and others..
As for horse breeding, the Andalusian horse or Spanish purebred horse is recognized, which is among the oldest breeds. There are also other pure autochthonous breeds such as the Losino horse, the Galician purebred or the Asturcón..
Other breeds are the Monchino, the Pottoka, the Jaca Navarra, the Mallorcan and the Menorcan. The marsh horse breed typical of the natural area of the Doñana marshes in Andalusia, is in danger of extinction.
Colombia generates 65% of its electricity through hydroelectric energy and has 140 MWp of solar energy installed. On the other hand, in terms of wind energy it reaches a power of 19.5 MW, which is only 0.4% of its theoretical potential.
Colombia is another of the 17 countries considered megadiverse, with more than 40,000 species of plants and 456 species of mammals. In palms it has the greatest diversity in the world with around 270 species and about 55% of the national territory is covered by tropical jungle ecosystems.
Colombia has a thriving agricultural sector with various crops, including native species such as the potato of the species Solanum phureja or Creole potato. This country has achieved a high quality of product in areas such as coffee (Coffea arabica) and cocoa (Theobroma cacao).
There is also a valuable gene pool in non-traditional fruit crops such as the South American sapote (Quararibea cordata).
Colombia has promoted a highly genetic bovine livestock sector based on obtaining pure breeds adapted to its specific conditions. Likewise, it has an important production of poultry (meat and eggs) and pigs..
The main source of renewable energy in Peru is hydroelectric, for which there is great potential in this country. More than 40% of the electricity demand is covered with this energy source and only 3.2% is covered with solar and wind energy.
Peru is one of the 12 countries with the greatest diversity of ecosystems, as well as one of the 17 megadiverse countries in number of species. Its flora is made up of around 25,000 species, having more than 50% of its surface covered with forests.
Peru is an important center of origin and domestication of cultivated plants, with around 128 species of domesticated native plants. One of these crops is the potato (Solanum tuberosum), of great global importance and of which there are about 2,000 varieties in this country.
In the Lake Titicaca region there are 200 wild potato species that represent an important genetic bank for the improvement of commercial varieties.
In Peru, cattle, pigs, goats and birds are produced and there are three native domesticated species (the alpaca (Vicugna pacos), call (Lama glama) and guinea pig (Cavia porcellus)). It also stands out in the breeding of Paso horses, with denomination of origin of Peruvian Paso Horse, an export product.
As an oil country, Venezuela has focused its energy policy on the use of this fossil fuel, with little development of renewable energy. The exception is hydroelectric energy, which in this country represents 70% of electricity production.
In 2012, it began to venture into the generation of wind energy with the installation of two wind farms.
Venezuela ranks seventh among the megadiverse countries on the planet, with around 20,000 species of plants and is the fifth country in the world in diversity of birds.
Due to its geographical location, it is influenced by the flora of the Caribbean, the Andes, Guyana and the Amazon and more than 50% of the Venezuelan territory is covered by tropical forests..
As an Amazonian country, Venezuela has a high genetic diversity in native crops. Among these are the pineapple (Ananas comosus) and cassava or manioc (Manihot esculenta). In the case of cocoa (Theobroma cacao), Venezuela is the country with the largest genetic reserve of Creole cacao or fine cacao.
On the other hand, some cultivated species introduced in colonial times have developed in this territory a high diversity of varieties such as mangoes and bananas..
The Venezuelan plains have traditionally been cattle ranchers since the colony, dominating today the breeds of cattle derived from the species Bos indicus. There is a breed of Creole cattle derived from the animals brought by the conquerors, it is the so-called Creole lemon tree.
Other items are the production of poultry (meat and eggs), pigs and goats. In pigs it is the third largest producer in Latin America.
Venezuela is the second country in the world in per capita water reserves and the first in America.
Along with Mexico, Argentina is among the 10 countries in the world with the highest growth rate in wind power generation. Currently only 4.8% of electricity demand is covered with renewable energies.
However, there is a national plan (RenovAry Plan) that aims to cover 20% by 2025, through wind, solar, bioenergy and hydroelectric projects..
Argentina has more than 10,000 species of plants, in addition to a great variety of ecosystems that range from tropical, temperate to cold environments. It also has a diversity of birds, including penguins (Spheniscidae) and rhea (Rhea spp.) as well as an important diversity of marine fauna.
Historically Argentina has been a country with high productivity in cereals, especially wheat (Triticum spp.). Soybeans (Glycine max) as an oleaginous legume, an item of which it is the third country in production.
Likewise, this country has stood out for having an important wine industry with the production of good quality wines..
Argentina is one of the largest producers of beef in the world, ranking third in this area. In addition, it has an important production of sheep, mainly for wool, an area in which it ranks fifth in the world..
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