Energy Resources — Renewable and Non-Renewable
Australia burns more coal per person than almost any country on Earth — and also has the most sunshine per person of any developed country. Both of those facts are currently true. In this lesson you'll explore where our electricity actually comes from, why fossil fuels still dominate, and why the science points toward a future powered mostly by renewable resources.
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Q1 · Australia has massive coal deposits AND the world's highest solar radiation. Name one reason we still use coal and one reason we're rapidly switching to solar.
Q2 · Name the energy resource that: (a) produces no greenhouse gases when operating, (b) can generate power 24/7 regardless of weather, (c) was made from ancient dead organisms.
● Know
- The difference between renewable and non-renewable energy resources
- Examples of fossil fuels and renewable alternatives
- How each major resource generates electricity
● Understand
- Why burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change (CO₂ and greenhouse effect)
- Why renewables present challenges such as intermittency and storage
- Australia's unique energy advantages and transition challenges
● Can do
- Compare coal and solar in terms of energy transformation, emissions and reliability
- Evaluate nuclear power as an energy option for Australia using evidence
- Describe Australia's current energy mix and trend toward renewables
- Coal
- Solar (PV)
- Natural gas
- Wind
- Uranium (nuclear)
- Renewable — sunlight replenished continuously
- Non-renewable fossil fuel — formed from ancient plants over millions of years
- Renewable — kinetic energy of moving air, inexhaustible
- Non-renewable — mined element, produces radioactive waste
- Non-renewable fossil fuel — formed from ancient marine organisms
Flick on a light switch at home: 1.5 seconds later, electrons are moving through the filament at a power station that may be 500 km away. That electricity could have come from burning coal, from falling water, from sunlight, or from wind — the switch doesn't care. Australia currently gets that electricity from all four sources, but the mix is changing fast, and understanding why starts with what each energy source actually does.
Non-renewable resources formed over hundreds of millions of years and cannot be replenished on human timescales. Once used, they are gone.
| Resource | Energy transformation in power station | Key issue |
|---|---|---|
| Coal | Chemical → heat (combustion) → steam → kinetic → electrical | Largest CO₂ emitter; air pollution |
| Oil (diesel) | Chemical → heat → kinetic → electrical (generators) | CO₂; mostly used for transport, not electricity |
| Natural gas | Chemical → heat → steam/gas turbine → kinetic → electrical | Lower CO₂ than coal but still a fossil fuel; methane leaks |
| Nuclear | Nuclear (fission) → heat → steam → kinetic → electrical | No CO₂ in operation; radioactive waste; high build cost; slow to build |
Burning fossil fuels releases stored chemical energy AND carbon dioxide (CO₂), a greenhouse gas. CO₂ in the atmosphere traps heat from the Sun → Earth warms above its natural level → climate change. Australia's coal-fired power stations are among the largest single-point sources of CO₂ in the Southern Hemisphere.
Renewable resources are replenished naturally and produce no direct greenhouse gas emissions during operation.
| Resource | Energy transformation | Australian example |
|---|---|---|
| Solar PV | Radiant (light) → electrical (direct; no steam) | Australia has highest per-capita rooftop solar in the world |
| Wind | Kinetic (wind) → kinetic (turbine) → electrical | SA 70%+ renewable (mostly wind & solar, 2023) |
| Hydroelectric | Gravitational PE (water) → kinetic → electrical | Snowy Hydro scheme; Snowy 2.0 (pumped hydro) |
| Geothermal | Thermal (Earth's heat) → steam → kinetic → electrical | Hot dry rock resources in SA; not yet commercially developed in Australia |
| Biomass | Chemical (burning organic matter) → heat → steam → electrical | Queensland sugar cane bagasse (waste) used to power mills |
Advantages of renewables: no greenhouse gas emissions during operation; inexhaustible; decreasing cost (solar now cheapest electricity in history).
Challenges:
- Intermittency — sun doesn't always shine, wind doesn't always blow; needs backup or storage
- Storage — batteries (e.g. Hornsdale Power Reserve, SA — world's first big grid battery), pumped hydro
- Location — best solar is in outback; best wind is in southern Australia; transmission lines needed
- Solar PV panel
- Wind turbine
- Hydroelectric dam
- Coal power station
- Gravitational PE of water → kinetic → electrical
- Radiant (light) energy → electrical (direct conversion)
- Chemical → heat → steam → kinetic → electrical
- Kinetic energy of wind → kinetic (turbine) → electrical
Australia's electricity grid is transforming rapidly — faster than almost any other developed country.
- Rooftop solar: Australia has the highest per-capita installation in the world. On sunny days, rooftop solar can supply more than 50% of South Australia's total electricity demand.
- 2023 stat: Approximately 35% of Australia's electricity came from renewable sources. The federal government target is 82% by 2030.
- Grid batteries: Hornsdale Power Reserve (SA) — the world's first large-scale grid battery — stores excess wind/solar power and releases it in milliseconds when demand spikes.
- Pumped hydro: Snowy 2.0 (under construction) will store excess renewable electricity by pumping water uphill, then release it through turbines when needed — a giant rechargeable battery.
- Jobs transition: Coal communities in the Hunter Valley (NSW) and Latrobe Valley (VIC) are developing renewable energy and manufacturing industries as coal power stations close.
Australian students today will enter a workforce shaped by this energy transition — from engineers designing solar farms to tradespeople installing panels and batteries.
Wrong: "Nuclear power is a renewable resource because it doesn't emit CO₂." Nuclear does NOT emit CO₂ during operation, but uranium is a finite resource mined from the ground — so it is non-renewable. "Renewable" and "clean" are not the same thing.
Right: Nuclear is non-renewable (uranium is mined and will eventually run out) but it is low-carbon (no CO₂ during operation). Clean ≠ renewable.
Wrong: "Solar panels work better in hotter temperatures." Solar PV panels actually become slightly less efficient as temperature rises above about 25°C. More hours of sunlight is what matters — not heat. Australia's advantage is sunlight hours, not desert heat specifically.
Right: Solar PV converts light, not heat. More sunlight hours = more electricity. Extreme heat can slightly reduce efficiency.
Wrong: "Renewable energy is always better for the environment than non-renewable." Renewables have much lower operating emissions but do have environmental costs: mining lithium for batteries, habitat disturbance for solar farms, bird and bat impacts from wind turbines. The comparison still strongly favours renewables — but no energy source has zero environmental impact.
Right: Renewables have much lower emissions but not zero environmental impact. Good decisions weigh all factors, not just CO₂.
Australia has the highest solar radiation of any developed nation AND some of the world's largest coal reserves. Yet in the early 2020s, more than half of Australia's electricity still came from coal. Predict two specific reasons why switching from coal to solar takes time even when the alternatives seem clearly better.
How close was your prediction?
The hook at the start of this lesson revealed that South Australia ran on more than 70% renewable electricity in 2023 — up from mostly gas just ten years earlier. That's an incredibly fast change! What made it possible?
Explain the key factors behind South Australia's rapid switch to renewables, and also describe the main challenges that still remain. Use the words greenhouse gas, intermittency and renewable at least once each.
Q1. Compare coal-fired and solar power stations in terms of: (a) energy transformations, (b) greenhouse gas emissions, (c) reliability. (4 marks)
Q2. Explain two reasons why Australia is well-positioned to transition to renewable energy, and one challenge it must overcome. (3 marks)
Q3. Evaluate nuclear power as an energy source for Australia. Consider the advantages and disadvantages, and justify whether you think Australia should build nuclear power stations. (5 marks)
Answers
▾MCQ 1
C — Natural gas is a fossil fuel, formed from ancient marine organisms over millions of years — non-renewable. Wind and solar are replenished continuously. Tidal energy is driven by the Moon's gravity and is also renewable.
MCQ 2
B — Solar PV (photovoltaic) panels convert radiant energy (light) directly into electrical energy using the photoelectric effect — no steam, no moving parts. This is different from solar thermal systems which use heat.
MCQ 3
B — Burning fossil fuels releases CO₂ stored in the carbon compounds over millions of years. CO₂ is a greenhouse gas that enhances the greenhouse effect, trapping more heat in the atmosphere and causing global warming/climate change.
MCQ 4
C — Snowy Hydro uses the gravitational potential energy of water stored in mountain reservoirs. Water flows downhill through tunnels, spins turbines, and generates electricity. The Snowy 2.0 extension adds pumped hydro storage.
MCQ 5
C — Intermittency (the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow) is the primary challenge for solar and wind. Solutions include battery storage, pumped hydro, and geographic diversity. They have no radioactive waste (B) and near-zero operational CO₂ (A).
Short Answer 1
Model answer: (a) Coal: chemical energy → heat (combustion) → kinetic (steam turbine) → electrical. Solar PV: radiant (light) energy → electrical (direct, no steam). (b) Coal releases large quantities of CO₂ and other pollutants. Solar PV produces zero greenhouse gas emissions during operation. (c) Coal is highly reliable — can generate 24/7 regardless of weather. Solar is intermittent — generates only when sunlight is available, so requires backup or storage on cloudy days or at night.
Short Answer 2
Model answer: Reason 1: Australia has the highest solar radiation of any developed country — vast outback areas receive intense sunlight year-round, ideal for large-scale solar farms. Reason 2: Australia has the highest per-capita rooftop solar in the world, so existing distribution infrastructure and public acceptance are already established. Challenge: Intermittency — the grid must manage periods of low solar/wind output; this requires large-scale battery storage (e.g. Hornsdale), pumped hydro (Snowy 2.0), or backup generation to ensure reliability.
Short Answer 3
Model answer: Advantages: Nuclear does not emit CO₂ during operation; produces large amounts of reliable, dispatchable electricity 24/7; does not depend on weather; modern reactors are safer than older designs. Disadvantages: Very high construction cost and long build times (10–15 years); produces radioactive waste that must be safely stored for thousands of years; Australia has no nuclear engineering workforce or regulatory framework; uranium is still non-renewable. Justified opinion: Accept either position with evidence. Example: "Australia should not build nuclear stations because the 10-year build time means they would arrive too late to meet the 2030 target, and the cost far exceeds that of solar and wind. Renewables plus storage can already replace fossil fuels at lower cost." (Award 2 marks for advantages, 2 marks for disadvantages, 1 mark for justified personal position supported by evidence.)