Fire was civilization's first great energy invention, and wood was the main fuel for a long time. Today our need for energy has increased as well as the sources we use to obtain the energy. Regardless of where the energy comes from, its use does impact the environment, and it can be affected by changes in the environment. Energy sources are broken down into 2 categories: renewable and non-renewable.

Non-Renewable Energy Sources are natural resources that take millions of years to replace.

91% of the energy consumed in the United States comes from non-renewable resources.

The four types of non-renewable resources include:

Oil(Petroleum)
Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons that formed from plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Crude oil is a fossil fuel, and it exists in liquid form in underground pools or reservoirs, in tiny spaces within sedimentary rocks, and near the surface in tar.

Natural Gas -
Natural gas occurs deep beneath the earth's surface.
Millions of years ago, the remains of plants and animals decayed and built up in thick layers, sometimes mixed with sand and silt. Over time, these layers were buried under sand, silt, and rock. Pressure and heat changed some of this organic material into coal, some into oil (petroleum), and some into natural gas.

Coal - Coal is classified as a nonrenewable energy source because it takes millions of years to form. Coal contains the energy stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago in swampy forests.
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The last type of non-renewable energy source is nuclear, also known as Uranium.

Nuclear energy is energy in the core of an atom. This nuclear energy can be released when the bonds of the atom are broken. The bonds can be broken through nuclear fission, and this energy can be used to produce electricity. Uranium is the fuel most widely used by nuclear plants for nuclear fission. 

Renewable Resources are natural resources that can be totally replaced or is always available naturally.

Only 9% of the energy used in the United States comes from renewable resources. The 4 types of renewable resources include:

Geothermal energy is heat within the earth. People can use this heat as steam or as hot water to heat buildings or to generate electricity.
Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source because the heat is continuously produced inside the earth.

Hydropower is the largest renewable energy source for electricity generation in the United States. Hydropower is the Energy from moving water, therefore, hydroelectric power plants are usually located on or near a water source.

Solar
The sun has produced energy for billions of years and is the ultimate source for all of the energy sources and fuels that we use today. People have developed devices to collect solar energy for heat and to convert it into electricity.

The last energy source is Wind - the energy from moving air.

Wind turbines use blades to collect the wind’s kinetic energy. The amount of electricity generated from wind has grown significantly over the past 15 years. New technologies have decreased the cost of producing electricity from wind, and growth in wind power has been encouraged by government and industry incentives

Now, it's your turn!! Think about what you have just learned to respond to the writing prompt.