Sustainable and Renewable Energy: What's the Difference?

Good for the planet, but in different ways

The planet—this great, blue orb we all inhabit—is surprisingly fragile. Sure, it’s made of durable stuff like rock, but there are other ways in which the Earth is susceptible to damage. We are all consumers by nature, and the resources we need to live– like electricity, oil, and natural gas — are limited in supply.

“We need more methods of powering our lives that don’t drain our limited resources.”

That is the essence of sustainable energy. The idea of sustainability originated in the late 80s with a report that circulated throughout Europe. Once introduced, it brought all the existing ideas of resource conservation under this one term.

Sustainability & Renewable Energy Snapshot

Once sustainability gained popular acceptance, people began to insert it into other conversations—like those centered around energy production. With sustainability serving as a blanket term, some confusion remains as to what sustainability really is and how it integrates with other key energy terms.

Sustainability sees the Earth as a limited resource. It’s a mindset that believes in operating in this world with greater efficiency so those operations can be sustained indefinitely. Renewable Energy, meanwhile, is a method of energy production that does not exhaust resources for its energy generation because it uses resources that can be renewed continually.