Renewable & Non-Renewable Energy: An In-Depth Look
Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Sources
Renewable energy sources are those that are not exhausted or are inexhaustible, such as solar, tidal, wind, and biomass energy. They are also called “soft” energy sources because they are non-polluting.
Non-renewable energy sources are those that are finite, as their presence in nature is limited. Examples include coal, oil, gas, and nuclear (uranium) energy. They are also called “hard” energy sources because they pollute significantly.
Primary energy sources, are those that *do not* apply directly to mechanical work, such as coal, oil and uranium. Secondary energy sources are those that apply directly to mechanical work; electricity, for example. Primaries produce secondary.
Key Industrial Terms and Concepts
- Labor force: The industrial workforce.
- Pipelines: Infrastructure used to transport natural gas.
- Oil Pipelines: used to transport oil.
- Holding: A monopoly that controls various companies by owning a majority of their stock. It is usually a financial or banking group.
- Industry: Any process that transforms goods which humans cannot use or consume directly (raw materials) into others that they can use or consume.
- Light industry: Industries that produce goods for use and consumption (e.g., textiles, footwear, food, automotive, appliances).
- Medium industry: Industries that manufacture equipment or production goods, including all mechanical industries (machines that produce goods for consumption).
- Heavy/Basic industries: Industries responsible for transforming raw materials into semi-finished goods, which are then used as feedstock for other industries. The most important are the steel and petrochemical industries.
- Endogenous industrialization: Industrial development based on the application of factors from within the environment.
- Exogenous industrialization: Industrial development based on the application of factors from outside the environment.
- Industrial Location: The places where industries are situated. Various factors influence location, such as proximity to raw materials or energy sources, the availability of capital, the skill and cost of labor, distribution facilities, proximity to consumption centers, and the presence of other industries (industry attracts industry).
- Raw material: Natural products that are processed by industry.
- Metallurgy: The process of obtaining different metals and alloys.
- Mineral: A substance of homogeneous inorganic composition, used as feedstock in industry.
- Multinational: A company with a presence in various countries. The parent company sets the policy to be followed by its domestic subsidiaries.
- New Industrial Countries (NICs): Countries in East and Southeast Asia that have experienced significant industrial growth based on abundant and cheap labor.
- Industrial landscape: The result of the transformation of a natural landscape due to industrial activity.
- Technology Park: A space where high-tech industries are concentrated.
- Development Plans: Political programs from the 1960s aimed at promoting underdeveloped areas.
- Industrial Estates: Areas located on the outskirts of cities, along communication lines (facilitating the arrival of raw materials or energy and the distribution of products). Light industries (producing consumer goods) dominate these areas.
- Development Poles: Areas resulting from development plans. These are locations where different types of industries were established by political decision to promote a territory.
- R&D Programs: Research and technological development programs designed to reduce dependence on external sources.
- Protectionism: An economic policy that implements measures to protect domestic production from foreign competition.
- Industrial Restructuring: The readjustment of industrial structure to adapt to new market techniques and conditions.
- Industrial region: Large spaces that can encompass various industrial centers and complexes. They have a variety of industries, which may or may not be grouped due to their dependence or complementarity. (In the Spanish context: Madrid and its metropolitan area).
- Industrial Revolution: A major change in production processes that occurred in England in the 18th century, following the invention of the machine.
- Steel: The name given to the metallurgy of iron to produce steel.
- Trust: (Similar to a holding) An agreement between companies to monopolize the market for a product.
- Deposit: A location where mineral raw materials or energy sources are found.
- Urgent Reindustrialization Zones (ZUR): Areas where reindustrialization plans were developed to rebuild a destroyed industrial base.