page_title: Renewable resource
section_title: Non-food resources
hierarchical_section_title: Renewable resource / Non-food resources
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Peuplement de Douglas (Pseudotsuga menziesii) historique (créé vers 1850) de la Forêt domaniale des Farges à Meymac (Corrèze) Hauteur totale dépassant 54 m
context_page_description: A renewable resource is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale. Renewable resources are a part of Earth's natural environment and the largest components of its ecosphere. A positive life cycle assessment is a key indicator of a resource's sustainability.
  Definitions of renewable resources may also include agricultural production, as in sustainable agriculture and to an extent water resources. In 1962, Paul Alfred Weiss defined renewable resources as: "The total range of living organisms providing man with life, fibres, etc...". Another type of renewable resources is renewable energy resources. Common sources of renewable energy include solar, geothermal and wind power, which are all categorised as renewable resources.
context_section_description: An important renewable resource is wood provided by means of forestry, which has been used for construction, housing and firewood since ancient times.
   Plants provide the main sources for renewable resources, the main distinction is between energy crops and non-food crops. A large variety of lubricants, industrially used vegetable oils, textiles and fibre made e.g. of cotton, copra or hemp, paper derived from wood, rags or grasses, bioplastic are based on plant renewable resources. A large variety of chemical based products like latex, ethanol, resin, sugar and starch can be provided with plant renewables. Animal based renewables include fur, leather, technical fat and lubricants and further derived products, as e.g. animal glue, tendons, casings or in historical times ambra and baleen provided by whaling.
  With regard to pharmacy ingredients and legal and illegal drugs, plants are important sources, however e.g. venom of snakes, frogs and insects has been a valuable renewable source of pharmacological ingredients. Before GMO production set in, insulin and important hormones were based on animal sources. Feathers, an important byproduct of poultry farming for food, is still being used as filler and as base for keratin in general. Same applies for the chitin produced in farming Crustaceans which may be used as base of chitosan. The most important part of the human body used for non-medical purposes is human hair as for artificial hair integrations, which is being traded worldwide.
caption: Douglas fir forest created in 1850, Meymac (Corrèze), France
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