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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Cramming for a test can be a real drag…

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Staring at your notes...

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Desperately trying not to fall asleep... [Boy falling asleep on chair]

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Wishing you could be doing something... anything other than studying.

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You'd probably rather bathe in a pool full of oatmeal, with a bunch of dirty elephants [Boy in oatmeal pool with elephant]

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while it rains malt vinegar and an angry gym coach yells at you to somehow do pushups in

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the pool...

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That's how badly you don't want to be studying.

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Thankfully, we at Shmoop know how boring it can be, which is why we've prepared this video.

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The Ultimate Review Video: Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy.

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…Well…we suppose this is only helpful if you're studying energy. [Students sitting in classroom]

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If you're cramming for a spelling test, this might not be helpful…

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Just remember "aardvark" has two As.

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Okay, onto the energy stuff!

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And be prepared – we've got a lot of stuff to study and we don't have much time.

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So keep your eyes and ears open, and your brains in full-on information-sponge mode, [Brain appears with information - sponge mode]

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and let's get to it.

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First, let's talk nonrenewables.

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We've got your fossil fuels... [Coop discussing non-renewable energy]

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Coal, crude oil, and natural gas.

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Unlike your Netflix subscriptions, these are all nonrenewable. [Man watching Netflix]

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And by that, we mean they take millions of years to form.

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We'd show you, but we we're on a time crunch.

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Though we probably have time to binge just one Netflix show…

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Ugh, okay, fine. [Boy falls asleep on couch]

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Let's take a look at these…

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Coal is a solid fossil fuel used for electricity and steel production, taken out of the ground

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through mining, and found in the United States in places like Wyoming, West Virginia, Pennsylvania,

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Illinois and Kentucky.

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It's also pretty inexpensive to get out of the ground – though it can be dangerous [A bucket of coal appears]

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to do so.

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Seriously, Santa wears tons of protective gear before he refills his coal supply. [Santa wearing construction helmet]

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Lastly, all of this mining tends to produce a lot of jobs – because if you want to do

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some mining, you need miners!

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Although, definitely not minor miners…that's been illegal for a while now. [Small boy collapses in mine]

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Sorry, kids.

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Next comes crude oil.

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This stuff is dark, chunky, and nowhere near as polite as vegetable oil.

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Crude oil is a liquid fossil fuel, and is used to make gasoline and diesel.

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It's found in pools deep underground, in places like Texas, North Dakota, California, Oklahoma

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and Alaska, and extracted through a process called fracking.

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And what's fracking?

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Well, it's when big machines blow holes in rocks deep beneath the earth, and it's got [Drill drills through rock]

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a whole lot of pros and cons – the major con being that the whole thing can be pretty

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darn “pollutey.”

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But, much like coal, it's pretty cheap to extract. [Man holding briefcase with dollar bill]

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Lastly, we've got natural gas, and it has nothing to do with your dog's farts or anything

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like that.

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This is a gas fossil fuel which is often used for heating and electricity.

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It's found in pools deep beneath the Earth in states like Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, [Pools of natural gas extraction locations appear on map of US]

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Oklahoma and Wyoming, where it's drilled out of the ground.

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Wow.

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That sure was a whole lot of information on the three types of fossil fuels, huh? [Man watching video on fossil fuels]

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So what's our take-away from it all?

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For starters, all three types of fossil fuels are often found in the same places.

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They're also always found deep within the ground.

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These fossil fuels take millions of years to form, and come from the remains of plants [Dino discussing fossil fuels]

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and animals that lived millions of years ago.

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We're also using them at a pace that's way, way, way, way, way faster than they're being [Cars driving by the highway]

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made – which is why we call them nonrenewable.

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In short – we're going to run out one day if we don't figure something else out. [Person fills up car gas tank]

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Which is exactly where alternative energy comes in!

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And we've covered three types of that awesome stuff... [Coop explaining alternative energy]

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Hydropower, solar power, and wind power.

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Now hydropower's the one we use the most.

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It's when we use fast moving water to spin turbines and produce energy, and accounts [A hydro power dam]

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for 6% of the electricity produced in the US.

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Since it relies on moving water, it's usually found near major water sources, like Niagara

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Falls and the Columbia River. [Niagra falls appears]

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It doesn't pollute our beautiful world, and it's totally renewable.

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Those are two very good things.

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The bad news?

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, It's pretty expensive, and it can disrupt animal habitats. [Cons for hydropower]

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For some reason they don't like living near giant power plants.

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Go figure.

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Next up is solar power.

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This is when we use the energy from the sun's rays to create energy, and it's most often [Sun shining]

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used for heating and electricity.

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If you've ever made a solar oven to cook s'mores, you've used solar power to create thermal [Smores inside a solar powered oven]

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energy!

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And you created delicious s'mores! [Man holding plate of smores]

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That's one s'more thing to be happy about.

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Hehe.

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Solar power has some cool pros. [Dino discussing solar power pros]

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It's totally renewable and it doesn't take up much space, but, because nothing is perfect,

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it's also really expensive and it doesn't work in places without a lot of direct sunlight.

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Big surprise, right?

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That's why it's best used in hot and sunny places, like a desert or near the equator. [A lot of solar power units appear]

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As for wind energy, well, that's obviously when we use the wind to spin wind mills and

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create energy. [Wind turbines appear]

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It requires a lot of flat land, so places like Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, California and

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Iowa are big wind energy states.

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If you've ever taken a road trip to Disneyland, you've probably seen them spinning. [Family driving in a car]

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And if you haven't, try to convince your parents that you want to visit where wind energy is

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made, and of course it has nothing to do with wanting to go to Disneyland.

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How dare they assume such things!

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Its pros are that it's renewable, doesn't pollute the air, and is pretty cheap once [Dino discussing wind power pros]

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you've installed the wind turbines.

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The cons are that those turbines are expensive to build, the amount of energy depends on [Coop explaining cons of wind power]

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the amount of wind.

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So if the wind decides to stop blowing…well then there's no more juice.

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And no more juice means no more Netflix. [Man watching Netflix and TV turns off]

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Clearly we can't rely on wind power alone.

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Whew!

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There you have it.

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We crammed together!

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Did you get it all?

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You can always watch this video once more.

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Or twice more.

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Or ten times more! [Man watching video on PC]

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You could even just put it on loop and fall asleep to it!

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Not that we're trying to hypnotize you, or anything…

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You're getting sleepy…verrrry sleepy….you love Shmoop….Shmoop is great…. [Man falling asleep on computer chair]

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