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          • Term
            • backstop resource
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          • Definition(s)
            • A sustainable, renewable natural resource that is used in place of, and as a substitute for, finite, exhaustible natural resources that have been exhausted. A sustainable resource is one in which the amount used today cannot reduce the amount available tomorrow.The best example is solar energy. No matter how much solar energy we use today, the same amount reaches the planet every day in the future. A backstop resource is then a sustainable resource, like solar energy, that society uses after finite resources, like fossil fuels, have been exhausted. In fact, solar energy is often considered THE backstop energy resource. It represents THE "safety net" that's available when fossil fuels are depleted. AmosWEB
          • Example sentence(s)
            • The backstop resource is on the flat part of its exploitation curve, so that the price of the resource is blocked and production ceases. - mpch mainz by
            • The optimal price will “deplete the resource at a rate which smoothly permits the transition from the existing resource to a backstop resource” - To Ere is human by
            • A backstop resource is one that is available in essentially unlimited quantities - for example, energy produced from fusion, fresh water derived from seawater, and optical fibers made from common sand. - Toward a new Iron Age? by
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