Classification of resources - renewable and non-renewable resources – conservation of resources – material substitution – product life extension – recycling.

1. Environment, Resources and
Energy
Classification of resources - renewable and non-renewable resources –
conservation of resources – material substitution – product life extension –
recycling. Energy – sources of energy – renewable and non-renewable source
of energy – conventional and nonconventional source of energy – direct and
indirect energy – atomic energy – energy crisis and energy scenario in India –
environmental issues.

2. Environment
• The meaning of the word environment is the surrounding of an organism.
Therefore, environment can be defined as ‘sum total of all conditions which
surround an organism at a given point of time and space’.
• As per the Environment Protection Act, 1986, the legal definition of
environment is “Environment includes water, air and land and the
interrelationship which exists among and between water, air and land, and
human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organism and property”.
• The environment has two parts:
• Biotic part: It is also called the living component of environment which includes plants,
animals, birds and all micro-organisms.
• Abiotic part: This is also called nonliving component of environment and it includes most
of the physical factors like temperature, humidity, light, water, air and gases, minerals,
and soil.

4. •Environment:
• The term ‘Environment’
means surroundings in
which the organisms live. It
is the sum total of all biotic
(living-plants, animals,
decomposers etc.) and
abiotic (Non-living-energy,
radiation, temperature etc)
factors that surround and
potentially influence an
organism.
•Ecology:
•Ecology is defined
“as a scientific study
of the relationship
of the living
organisms with each
other and with their
environment.”

5. Resource
• A resource is a substance in the environment that is useful to people
is economically and technologically feasible to access and socially
acceptable to use. Resources include soil, water, food, plants.
animals and mineral.
• To define anything or substance as resource, one must critically
examine whether it has the property of both utility or function
ability. The presence of both utility and function ability is
mandatory for resource creation.
• The resource of yesteryears may not be considered as resource
today, resource considered by one country may be considered as
waste product by another country.

6. Prof. Zimmermann’s inimitable definition runs: “The
word resource does not refer to a thing or a substance
but to a function which a thing or a substance may
perform or to an operation in which it may take part,
namely, the function or operation of attaining a given
end such as satisfying a want. In other words, the word
resource is an abstraction reflecting human appraisal and
relating to a function or operation”.

7. •The resources can be classified in the following
ways:
•On the basis of origin
•On the basis of exhaustibility
•On the basis of ownership
•On basis of the status of development

8. On the basis of origin
• Biotic Resources are obtained from biosphere and
they have a life such as human beings, flora and
fauna, fisheries, livestock etc.
• Abiotic resources include all those things which are
composed of non-living things like rocks and metals

9. On the basis of exhaustibility
• Renewable Resources are those resources which can be renewed or
reproduced by physical, chemical or mechanical processes,
• e.g., solar and wind energy, water, forests and wildlife, etc.
• Renewable resources may further be divided into
• continuous or flow resources, e.g., wind, water
• biological resources, which are of 2 types
• Natural Vegetation (Forests)
• Wildlife
• Non-Renewable Resources are formed over a substantially long
geological time
• e.g., minerals and fossil fuels. These can subdivided into
• recyclable resources, e.g. metals
• non-recyclable resources, e.g. fossil fuels, which cannot be recycled and get exhausted
with their use

10. On the basis of ownership
• Individual Resources are resources that are owned privately by individuals.
• Examples- land owned by farmers (allotted by the government against the
payment of revenue), plantations, pasture lands, ponds, water in wells owned
by individuals, plots, houses and other property owned by people in the city
etc.
• Community Resources are resources accessible to all the members of a community.
• Examples: Village commons (grazing grounds, burial grounds, village ponds,
etc.) public parks, picnic spots, and playgrounds in urban areas.
• National Resources are all the resources that belong to a nation.
• Examples : roads, canals, railways, etc. minerals, water resources, forests,
wildlife, etc. land within the political boundaries, territorial water and the
resources within
• International resources

11. On the basis of the state of development
• Potential resources are resources found in a region which have not been utilized.
• Examples: wind and solar energy development potential in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
• Developed resources are those resources which are surveyed and their quality and
quantity have been determined for utilization. The development of resources however
depends on technology and level of their feasibility.
• Stock refers to materials in the environment which have the potential to satisfy human
needs but human beings do not have the appropriate technology to access these.
• Examples : water is a compound of two inflammable gases; hydrogen and oxygen, which could be
used as a rich source of energy if we had the required technical ‘knowhow’. Hence, it can be
considered as stock.
• Reserves are the subset of the stock, which are yet to be put into use with the help of
existing technical ‘know-how’. These can be used for meeting future requirements.
• Example : River water can be used for generating hydroelectric power but presently, it is being
utilized only to a limited extent. Thus, the water in the dams is a reserve which can be used in the
future.

12. Classification of resources
The two most common resource classifications are:
A. Natural resources – Natural resources can be
defined as the resources that exist on the planet
independent of human actions.
B. Human resources – Human resources refers to the
individuals who make up an organization’s,
business sector’s, industry’s, or economy’s workers

13. NATURAL RESOURCES
• Natural resources are the resources utilised by the living organism for their
survival and welfare directly from the natural environment. These are
basically resources gifted by nature to us like sun light, air, water, plants and
animals, soil and minerals.
• Natural resource can be further classified as
A. Renewable resource – These are the resources which can reproduced or renewed
through various mechanical, chemical or physical process.
B. Non-renewable resource – These are the resources which takes millions of years for
its formation. Examples like coal, petroleum, natural gas etc.
• Natural resources are classified according to their development and use are
a. Potential resources – The resources that are present in a specific region and can be
used in the future are classified as potential resources.
b. Actual resources – Actual resources are the resources where quantity is known which
are being used in the present.

15. Importance of Natural Resources
• Natural resources are considered as a gift of nature to human beings
for fulfilling their needs and desires. Natural resources such as air,
food, water and shelter are basic needs of all types and forms of life
for their survival in biosphere. These resources are very important
for living beings because:
1. Almost all living beings use natural air to breath.
2. All humans, animals, birds and other living beings use water to drink.
3. Every living beings use land for getting shelter
4. Natural resources like forests give food, timber, paper, medicines and
fresh air.
5. Natural resource like coal mines give energy to us.
6. Natural gas and naturally available minerals and metals are also
considered as natural resources.

16. ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
• Environmental degradation comes about due to erosion and decline of the
quality of the natural environment.
• It is caused directly or indirectly by anthropogenic activities that extract various
environmental resources at a faster rate than they are replaced, and thus depleting them.
• On this regard, degradation means damage or reduction in quality of
environmental features, primarily influenced by human activities.
• Some natural events such as landslides and earthquakes may also degrade the nature of
our environments.
• Continued environmental degradation can completely destroy the various
aspects of the environment such as biodiversity, ecosystems, natural resources,
and habitats.
• Environmental degradation is a concept that touches on a variety of topics
namely deforestation, biodiversity loss, desertification, global warming, animal
extinction, pollution, and many more.

17. Conservation of Natural Resources
• Conservation of natural resources means managing the use of these
resources such as to have maximum benefit to common beings and
maintaining the potential of resources to meet future demand. But
excessive and unplanned use of these resources has depleted these
resources so much so that there is an urgent need of stopping
destructive practices and to implement necessary steps for
conservation of natural resources. All of us have some responsibility
to contribute our share to conservation and protection of
environment.
• The main objective of conservation is to preserve the quality of
environment and allowing natural cycle of renewal

18. • top six methods used for conserving resources. The methods are:
1.Material Substitution
2.Product Life Extension
3.Recycling
4. Optimum Recycling
5. Recycling and Pollution Taxes
6. Waste Reduction.

19. Material Substitution
• Material substitution implies efficient use of raw materials (to minimize losses
along the process system) as well as using different raw materials that will not
generate waste during the process.
• The process of material substitution as a mean of conserving resources
depends on technology.
• Aluminum is being extensively substituted for tin, particularly in the production of metal
cans and containers.
• plastics are being used for insulation and anti-corrosive purposes where lead and zinc
were originally used.
• concept of raw materials substitution implies effective and efficient use of raw
materials (to minimize losses along the process system) as well as using
different raw materials that will not generate waste during processing.
• This concept also further implies re-using materials or using recycled materials.

20. • We cannot expect a neat “phasing” of scarcity, such that, as one
resource runs out, another becomes available and so on. There is
possibility of complete sets of raw materials, substitutable among
themselves will be depleted at about the same time.
• The substitution may take place with a time lag sufficient to cause
disruption in the productive activities of the economy.
• Further, the substitute material may cause more pollution than the
materials which were in use.
• For example, aluminium smelters may involve more pollution than their
counterpart for tin.
• The substitute materials may well require higher energy inputs, as is
the case with low-grade copper exploitation.

21. Product Life Extension
• This is a method by which the durability of the product is extended
by deliberate design, so that the need for replacement would be
postponed.
• By extending the life of the product, the requirement of resource
materials can be appreciably brought down.
• This will be possible only with substantial increase in the quality of
the product to extend its durability. Otherwise, the product may
become less suitable and the objective will be defeated.
• Thus, the product life extension has a potential role to play in conservation
of resources.

22. Increasing the durability of products means designing products for longer use and
designing them for easy and economical repair or manufacture. The replacement of
unbreakable containers in the place of brittle breakable containers is an example.
Increasing the durability of the product otherwise called as product life extension does
not merely mean making it tougher or stronger. It involves designing problem and
marketing problem. The design problem is to ensure that replacement of worn parts is
simple and the marketing problem is to make pans available. If products arc not
durable, they should be repairable and durability meant either better materials or
easily replaceable pans or both. Increase in durability will reduce wastes generated and
promote preservation of our natural resources.

23. • It means extend the life of the product.
• Re-use the product and use the product for next time.
• In re-use, the form of the resources is not changed.
• It helps conserve the natural resources in two ways;
• one hand it helps reduce the use of raw materials
• it helps to reduce environmental pollution.

24. Recycling

25. Recycling
• Recycling is a popular and widely practiced method throughout the
world by many industrial units. This is a process by which the life of
resource is extended by means of recycling it or reusing it as an input or
output.
• Industrial wastes and by products can be profitably recycled.
• the differential cost between recycling and using virgin resource must remain for
a fairly long period.
• Recycling is a series of activities that includes the collection of used,
reused, or unused items that would otherwise be considered waste,
sorting and processing the recyclable products into raw materials, and
refnanu factoring the recycled raw materials into new products.
• Consumers provide the last link in recycling by purchasing products
made from recycled content. Recycling also can include composting of
food scraps, yard trimmings, and other organic materials