Renewable Resources are resources that can be recreated indefinitely (as opposed to nonrenewable resources). While running out of resources isn't likely to be a factor due to practically infinite (and still quite vast in theory) map generation, this is a list of resources that can produced over and over without having to explore for more.
The listed Fully Renewable Products are items which can be crafted or smelted using only renewable resources. Note that TNT and arrows are created from a combination of renewable and non-renewable resources (being Sand and Flint, respectively).
Fully renewable resources
These resources do not require any nonrenewable items in order to be collected.
| Resource | Fully Renewable Products | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Saplings and Trees SaplingSapling SpruceSapling Birch [note 1] |
WoodWood (Pine)Wood (Birch)Wooden PlankLaddersFenceFence GateWooden DoorTrapdoorSignWooden StairsWooden Pressure PlateCharcoal (Item)BedGold SwordGold PickaxeGold ShovelGold AxeGold HoeRed Apple | Trees can be grown from Saplings placed on lit Dirt; breaking trees' Leaves drops saplings. See tree farming. Charcoal can be produced by smelting any kind of log. Red apples drop at a rate of 1/200 chance of despawned/destroyed oak tree leaves in the latest prerelease, and gold ingots, and therefore gold blocks, crafted from gold nuggets, can make the golden apple. |
| Wool |
Bed | Obtained by killing sheep, or by crafting 4 strings dropped by spiders. Six of the shown colors (white, light gray, gray, black, brown and pink) occur naturally in sheep; green, lime, red, orange and yellow wool require renewable dyes to produce. (As of 1.9 PreRelease 6, all colors of wool are fully renewable because when sheep breed, the child inherits their parent's wool color.) |
| Cobblestone and Stone |
ButtonStone BrickStone Bricks Slabs | Let flowing Lava meet Water. (One should take care not to let the water come into contact with the lava source block, which will extinguish the lava to make obsidian.) Smooth stone is created when letting lava fall on water and can be harvested with a pickaxe with a silk touch enchantment, or by smelting cobblestone with the renewable fuel of your choice. |
| Crops |
Harvesting Crops may produce Seeds, which may be used to produce more Crops. May also be harvested from Tall Grass. | |
| Sugar Canes |
Will grow to 3 blocks high and can be trimmed or replanted. Must first be found in the world. | |
| Cacti |
Will grow to 3 blocks high and can be trimmed or replanted. Must first be found in the world. | |
| Pumpkin Seeds Pumpkin seeds |
Jack-O-Lantern | Pumpkin Seeds are found in Abandoned Mine Shafts. You can also get seeds from putting a pumpkin in a crafting table or by breaking Pumpkin Stems. |
| Melon Seeds |
Melon Seeds are found in Abandoned Mine Shafts. You can also get seeds from putting a melon slice in a crafting table or by breaking Melon Stems. | |
| Fish |
Obtained by fishing using a Fishing Rod. | |
| Pork |
Dropped by killed pigs. | |
| Beef |
Dropped by killed cows. | |
| Leather |
Dropped by killed cows. | |
| Raw Chicken |
Dropped by killed chickens. | |
| Feathers |
— | Dropped by killed chickens. |
| Eggs |
— | Dropped roughly every 7 minutes by living chickens. |
| Gunpowder |
— | Dropped by killed creepers and ghasts. |
| Ink Sacs |
Dropped by killed squid. | |
| Arrows |
— | Dropped by killed skeletons. |
| Bones |
Dropped by killed skeletons. | |
| String |
Bed | Dropped by killed spiders. |
| Spider Eye |
Dropped by killed spiders. | |
| Slimeballs |
Dropped by killed slimes. | |
| Gold Nuggets |
Gold SwordGold PickaxeGold ShovelGold AxeGold HoeGold (Block)Gold HelmetGold ChestplateGold LeggingsGold Boots | Dropped by killed Zombie Pigmen. |
| Ghast Tears |
— | Dropped by killed ghasts. |
| Blaze Rods |
Dropped by killed blazes. | |
| Ender Pearls Enderpearl |
Dropped by killed endermen. | |
| Rotten Flesh |
— | Dropped by killed zombies and Zombie Pigmen. |
| Mushrooms MushroomsMushrooms |
Using Bone Meal on normal Mushrooms will grow them into Huge Mushrooms, if there is enough space, and can then be broken to get more of the normal mushroom. Normal mushrooms also spread slowly on their own. Also, Mooshrooms can be sheared for red mushrooms or milked for Mushroom Stew. | |
| Huge Mushroom Huge MushroomsHuge MushroomsHuge Mushrooms |
— | Using Bone Meal on normal Mushrooms will grow them into Huge Mushrooms (if there is enough space), and can then be broken to get more of the normal mushroom for making more Huge Mushrooms. However, with the Silk Touch enchantment, the Huge Mushroom blocks themselves can be collected. |
| Flowers FlowersFlowers |
Can occasionally spawn when Bone Meal is used to generate patches of Tall Grass. | |
| Nether Wart Nether Wart Seeds |
— | Harvesting fully grown nether wart. |
| Music Discs Music DiscsMusic Discs |
— | Get a skeleton to kill a creeper with its arrows. |
| Snowball |
Snow (Block) | Snow is replaced whenever it snows, and is also produced by Snow Golems. |
| Snow |
— | Snow is replaced whenever it snows in snow biomes, and is also produced by Snow Golems. Shoveling it will yield snowballs, but with a shovel enchanted with Silk Touch, the snow tile itself is obtainable. |
Renewable, but require nonrenewable resources
These resources can be made infinitely, but to collect require nonrenewable items with infinite uses.
| Resource | Fully Renewable Products | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Water |
Potions[note 2] | Two water spring blocks in the appropriate pattern produce a third; see Water for details.
However, harvesting Water for the potion requires a Bucket, which can be used unlimited times, but are made of non-renewable Iron, and it also requires a Bottle, which can be used unlimited times[note 3], but are made of non-renewable Glass. |
| Milk |
Obtained by milking Cows using a Bucket.
However, harvesting Milk requires a Bucket, which can be used unlimited times, but are made of non-renewable Iron. | |
| Blue, Light Blue, Cyan, Purple, and Magenta Wool |
Bed | Baby sheep will maintain the color of their parents. Killing a colored sheep will drop one block of colored wool.
However, two uses of the respective dye, containing non-renewable Lapis Lazuli (Dye), are required to color the parent sheep. |
Renewable, but exhaust nonrenewable resources
These resources can be made infinitely, but to collect require nonrenewable items with limited durability.
| Resource | Fully Renewable Products | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Leaves Leaves |
— | Harvesting Leaf blocks from grown Trees using Shears will produce leaf blocks instead of saplings.
However, to harvest leaves, one would require Shears, made from non-renewable Iron. |
| Vines |
— | Vines can be found hanging from leaves in Swamp biomes. They grow downwards.
However, to harvest vines, one would require Shears, made from non-renewable Iron. |
| Grass |
Grass can be made by using Bone Meal on a Grass Block.
However, to harvest grass, one would require Shears, made from non-renewable Iron. | |
| Obsidian |
— | Entering a Nether Portal for which there is no matching exit will generate 14 free blocks of Obsidian (and 4 more "ledge" blocks if the portal is formed in mid-air). Only mining the corners (and "ledges") will keep the portal active.
However, to harvest obsidian, one would require a pickaxe made from non-renewable Diamond. |
Notes
- ↑ Because saplings have a 1/16 chance to fall from a leaf block, there is a chance that a tree will not drop any saplings. However, the number of generated trees is theoretically infinite, making the chance to not get any saplings from destroying all trees negligible.
- ↑ Some potions are non-renewable. A potion's renewability depends on its ingredients
- ↑ Unless the potion is turned into a splash potion by brewing gun powder, in which case the bottle will be consumed once the potion is fired