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We normally say "a machine + run + on + a kind of energy" (e.g. "Our car only runs on unleaded petrol.")

We normally say "a living thing + live + on + a kind of food" (e.g. "Small birds live mainly on insects.")

Do we say "run on" for things that are not machines?

For example, "pens run on ink and pencils run on lead"

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    No, not unless you're trying to be clever instead of being idiomatic. "run on" refers literally or figuratively to fuel. "Cars run on gas. Dogs run on Alpo." ( fictitious dog food commercial).
    – TimR
    Commented Sep 13 at 10:08
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    Ink and lead are not fuels, they do not provide energy to a thing. A pen has ink, while a pencil has graphite but we still call it a lead pencil. A water-heater can run on gas or electricity. It needs the energy to turn cold water into hot.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Sep 13 at 10:30
  • What @TimR said. Metaphoric "capitalism runs on profit" and "science runs on trust" are fine, but pens and pencils don't really work in that context.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 13 at 10:34
  • @TimR, "Dogs run on Alpo"??? I thought "Dogs live on Alpo"
    – Tom
    Commented Sep 13 at 11:46
  • @Tom It was just a quick-and-dirty example of figurative word-play to show you how "run on" can work. You could stretch the figure and say things like "Italy runs on espresso" or "France runs on cheese" or "Political extremism runs on fear and ignorance". The figure of speech treats the subject as needing energy to propel it. But pens and pencils are lifeless tools and do not in any sense have a life of their own. They don't consume something to produce energy. They are wielded. Only in a Pixar film could "Pens run on ink" have any chance of passing muster -- if spoken by a pen.
    – TimR
    Commented Sep 13 at 12:16

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No, you don't say that "pens run on ink and pencils run on lead." It's probably because pens and pencils are not machinery that needs something to power them, such as fuel.

Compare that to "cars run on gasoline" which is perfectly acceptable because cars are machinery that use gasoline for power/fuel.

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