Energy.

It makes the world work.

Turns the lights on, charges our phones, moves people and goods all over the world.

A day without it would be unimaginable.

We get it from a wealth of sources.

For a good part of the last couple of centuries, it has come primarily from non-renewable energy sources, and, in fact, that's still the case today.

We're talking coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear.

And while there's a major push right now to explore renewable sources of energy that are less destructive to our planet, we still rely heavily on the old-school energy sources.

We're talking non-renewable energy, today on "Spotlight Earth."

(uplifting music) Non-renewable energy resources like coal, oil and natural gas are fossil fuels.

That means that they are formed from the remains of dead plants and animals, remains that contain energy from the sun, captured through photosynthesis some 300 million years ago.

They're not actually fossils, but they are really, really old.

Let's start with oil and natural gas.

Where do these energy sources come from?

Well, millions of years ago, small ocean plants and animals died and fell to the ocean floor.

As millennia passed, the decomposing organisms were covered by sediment layers that included sand silt, clay and small pieces of rock.

Sediment layers continue to build over the decomposing organisms, causing pressure and heat to transform the decomposing materials into oil and gas.

Today, we drill down deep to get these natural gas and oil reserves.

Next up, coal.

Coal is formed through a similar process, however, it's composed of terrestrial plants.

Those terrestrial plants die, and over millions of years, the decomposing plants were buried and compressed until sedimentary rock formed.

Coal develops very slowly.

The youngest coal is soft and crumbly and not really a rock yet.

This is peat, and it produces a lot of smoke when burned.

After peat, coal evolves into lignite coal, and then bituminous coal.

The oldest coal, anthracite, is like a hard glassy rock, and is the most valuable and most scarce.

All of these stages of coal have served as fuel throughout human history.

Fossil fuels are considered non-renewable resources, because they take millions of years to form and require very special geographical and climate conditions.

Because humans use such large quantities of fossil fuels for energy and manufacturing, it is impossible to replace them in our lifetime.

The use of fossil fuels has major environmental repercussions, like increased carbon dioxide emissions, the release of fossil fuel particulates into the air, and the destruction of land through mining.

However, until humans develop and expand new and cleaner energy sources, we are reliant on fossil fuels to heat and cool our homes, cook our food and power our businesses.

Last stop in our non-renewable energy tour is nuclear power.

In Virginia, we have two nuclear power stations, the North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Virginia, and the Surry Power Station in Surry, Virginia.

Nuclear fission is the process of forcing an atom to split into two lighter atoms.

This split releases the energy that was holding the atom together, which results in intense amounts of heat.

Most nuclear power stations rely on the radioactive form of uranium, which is an unstable isotope, fissions easily, and is relatively abundant on earth.

The heat released by this process is used to boil water to generate steam, which turns a turbine and makes electricity.

So a nuclear power station is just a big water boiler.

Though nuclear power does not create carbon dioxide like fossil fuels, there are environmental concerns associated with it.

The water heated through a process of fusion is warmer when it is returned to its source.

This causes thermal pollution in some aquatic habitats.

The process of mining and refining uranium has a big impact on the landscape.

In addition, the waste from nuclear processes can take hundreds to thousands of years to break down into non-radioactive material.

Nuclear waste can be safely stored, however, it is extremely harmful to humans and other life forms, so storing this hazardous material requires careful planning and security.

The nuclear power stations are closely monitored for safe handling of materials and nuclear waste disposal.

Joining us now to talk more on non-renewable energy is Paul Olsen from Old Dominion University.

He's got a background in engineering, and previously worked for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Paul, thanks so much for joining us.

It's an absolute pleasure to be here, Ellen.

So, Paul, how has Virginia, the United States and the world benefited from non-renewable energy sources?

Let's start with the world.

The world has benefited from non-renewable energy sources since the first prehistoric man lit the first prehistoric log in his first prehistoric cave to cook his first prehistoric dinner.

So over time, it displays we've always relied on non-renewable energy, but let's neck it down to the United States.

If you look at the turn of last century, we've gone from an agricultural country to an industrialized country, and all those big industries were powered by coal, they were powered by wood, and latter in the century, they were powered by petroleum products.

The non-renewable energy sources were key to the building of our nation.

So Virginia has had the same history.

A lot of our commonwealth has been powered from coal, from natural gas, and from petroleum products that come from overseas.

So, Paul, how has the environmental movement changed the way that we think about non-renewables?

I'll bring you back in history again, Ellen.

If you go back to the '40s and the '50s and even the '60s, when we were at the height of environmental revolution, we had great cities like San Francisco and LA choked with smog, we had fish kills, or mass die-offs, in our rivers, rivers that actually were so polluted, they lit on fire, we had deforestations.

All this needed to be changed.

All this was the price of using non-renewable energy.

So what changed it?

Perhaps you could say one voice changed it, one book changed it, and it was a book called "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson, and with that book, which should be on everybody's bookshelf, it illuminated the dangers of non-renewable energy, and it called for a change on the way our nation used non-renewables.

After that book, that sponsored an environmental movement, which then turned into new laws for the United States, which included the Clean Air Act to prevent that smog, the Clean Water Act to prevent fish kills, and the Safe Drinking Water Act to preserve our own health, and a slew of others that made a balance for the use of non-renewable energy in the context of protecting our environment.

And we also referenced Rachel Carson in our very first episode.

It's a great book.

Are non-renewables still central to our power consumption and generation?

Well, they are, and they will be for the next few years.

If you look across the Commonwealth of Virginia, most of our homes are still heated by coal, natural gas, liquid petroleum, and other non-renewables, so sadly, they are still central, they're still important.

If you look at our military, many of our warships are powered by small nuclear reactors.

While the military is doing better, it still relies on diesel, non-renewable energy and other power sources to provide national security.

So some things to still work on.

Some things to still work on, but we're getting there.

So will this still be the case in 30 years?

I don't have a crystal ball, Ellen, but I think it will be different.

I think the balance between non-renewable energy and renewable energy will make that shift in about 20 to 30 years.

In about that time, you'll be seeing more of our communities, our schools, our vehicles, our way of life powered by renewable energy.

Well, I can say I am looking forward to that future.

Are non-renewables still a big part of the equation outside of the United States?

Outside of the United States, I'm afraid to say that most of the developing world, most of the Third World, still really relies on non-renewable energy to power their economies.

It makes sense when you think about it.

In a developing country, they wanna have the same industrial revolution, they wanna have the same opportunities that we've enjoyed in the United States by consuming non-renewable energies, so that's why you're seeing a lot of coal being burnt, you're seeing a lot of energy being produced by petroleum products, you're seeing a lot of wood being burned, even.

All this in the developing nations is at a much higher level of consumption than the United States.

Mm, and that's alarming.

That is of a concern.

It's all about educating them on renewables, so they know they have a choice and they know they have an option.

So what do you personally think the future looks like for how we use and generate energy?

Well, I personally think that you don't need to look farther than the Commonwealth of Virginia to see that there's a future of non-renewables and that future looks bright.

To that point, solar panels are springing up in vacant farm fields, if you go on other military bases, they're drilling underneath the facilities on military bases down only about 300 yards, and they're tapping into geothermal energy sources that are heating up the barracks and the facilities of those military installations, and my favorite, just look 25 miles off the coast, and you'll see the first two wind turbines in federal waters.

25 years from now, there won't be two anymore, there will be 2,000, and that future looks bright.

Paul, thank you so much for joining us today and giving us some insight.

Thank you, Ellen, and let me say, I do appreciate your positive energy.

(Ellen chuckles) The United States and countries across the globe are reliant on fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

We're transitioning away from those conventional sources towards renewable, cleaner energy.

Thanks for spending some time discussing non-renewable energy resources, and see you next time on "Spotlight Earth."

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