Fuels and energy resources
Every energy resource has upsides and downsides — the key difference is whether it will run out.
Part of your national curriculum
- Physics: energy: Understand fuels and energy resources, including renewable and non-renewable resources
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand fuels and energy resources, including renewable and non-renewable resources
Key learning points
- • Non-renewable resources
- • Renewable resources
- • Trade-offs
This lesson at a glance
- 24 minutes
- 14 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 14
Watch first
Fuels and energy resources
An English teaching video on this topic from Lammas Science. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Understand fuels and energy resources, including renewable and non-renewable resources
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 14
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Non-renewable resources
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 14
Learn
Non-renewable resources
Fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — formed over millions of years from dead organisms, and nuclear fuel (uranium) are non-renewable: they exist in limited amounts and cannot be replaced within a human lifetime once used.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 14
Learn
Renewable resources
Renewable resources are replenished naturally and will not run out on human timescales: examples include solar, wind, hydroelectric, tidal, geothermal and biomass. Many produce electricity without directly releasing carbon dioxide during operation.
Quick check
Part 5 of 14
Quick check
Which of these is a non-renewable energy resource?
Reset break
Part 6 of 14
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 7 of 14
Quick check
What is a common disadvantage of wind and solar power?
Learning cycle
Part 8 of 14
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Trade-offs
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 14
Learn
Trade-offs
Fossil fuels are reliable and energy-dense but release carbon dioxide and are running out. Renewables reduce carbon emissions but some, like wind and solar, are intermittent — dependent on weather — and can have high set-up costs or land use impacts.
Quick check
Part 10 of 14
Quick check
Why are fossil fuels described as non-renewable?
Challenge round
Part 11 of 14
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 12 of 14
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Renewable ____ are replenished naturally and will not run out on human timescales: examples include solar, wind, hydroelectric, tidal, geothermal and biomass.
Fossil fuels are reliable and ____-dense but release carbon dioxide and are running out.
Mastery quiz
Part 13 of 14
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Fuels and energy resources
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Which of these is a non-renewable energy resource?
2. What is a common disadvantage of wind and solar power?
3. Why are fossil fuels described as non-renewable?
Lesson round-up
Part 14 of 14
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
Why the school greenhouse failed
A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.
The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.
The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
- Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
- Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.
Method and results
WritingWrite the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.
1 page + results table
Conclusion
WritingExplain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.
6–8 sentences
Labelled diagram
DiagramDraw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.
1 labelled diagram
Reading and notes
ReadingRead the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.
Half a page of notes
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover
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Understand fuels and energy resources, including renewable and non-renewable resources