Is Motor Oil a Renewable Resource?
Many machines require oil to operate or run, including airplanes, vehicles, and lawnmowers. After the oil is used once in the machine, the substance must be disposed of in a safe way to protect the environment. According to the statistics provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), companies and people discard about 200 million gallons of spent (or used) oil every day. We are taught that fossil fuels like natural gas and oil formed hundreds of millions of years ago. Plants and prehistoric animals that once roamed the earth died and from these buried remains, a natural decomposition process took place that required eons of time, intense heat, and pressure. This prehistoric process helped form the fuels we use today to run the modern economy. Motor oil (and other oils) are not considered renewable resources, but there are ways to recycle and reuse various types of oil. Why is oil non-renewable? Oil is a non-renewable energy resource because it took millennia to fo...