Faced with such a terrible reality, IPCC report deliveredIn February, you might want to consider taking some minimum actions such as buying an EV. This great deep dive was published by Ars TechnicaMonday’s revelation into how much it costs to go green is a reminder that even though they emit less, clean cars aren’t all that clean.
It all comes down mining and sourcing rare metals that are used in the construction of electric motors and battery. The U.S. is currently attempting to develop its domestic manufacturing sector. Supply of cobalt, lithium, and other rare earth metalsHowever, the mining of such metals can be so hazardous and toxic that it is hard to imagine anyone in America wanting it in their backyard. Shel Evergreen explains this in their story Elephant In the Room: Clean energy needs for unsustainable minerals
Salt flats in South America’s Atacama Desert are sprinkled with small, turquoise-colored pools of lithium brine. Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo chip at the ground to find cobalt. Toxic chemicals in China leach neodymium out of the earth.
This is the energy mining rush. People around the world are frantically searching for the right metals to power our energy transition. Renewable energy technologies are vital to the fight against global warming, but they are heavily dependent on mineralsnaturally occurring, solid substances made from one or several elements. However, extracting and refining these materials presents logistical, environmental, and humanitarian challenges.
Evergreen discovered that green energy chasers create more greenhouse gases in a frustrating feedback loop.
For example, the production of these minerals is generally more energy-intensive that other commodities. The IEA report states that the production emissions of 1 metric ton lithium carbonate are three-times higher than that of steel. This is compounded by the fact that some minerals have experienced a steady decline in ore quality, which means that more energy is required to produce technology-grade materials. As the copper ore grade declined, so did the need for electricity to refine. Fuel usage also increased by 130 per cent between 2001 and 2017.
The majority of mineral emissions are due to the rise in battery technology. However, wind power may struggle to reduce its downstream impact. Recent research has shown that there is a significant reduction in the amount of mineral emissions due to the rise of battery technology. StudyScience of the Total Environment published research that showed that green energy production can increase by 1 percent and lead to a 0.90% increase in greenhouse gas emission. The study found that permanent magnets were used in renewable tech to produce 32 billion metric tons carbon-equivalent emission emissions between 2010 and 2020.
Kraslawski stated that we need to view the problem of energy, green energy, and solving environmental problems from the perspective system engineering. He said that we can often cause great social problems by polluting the environment and depleting resources.
Raugei still believes that the emissions problem will pass, as the initial widespread deployment of these technologies causes greenhouse gas emissions. Then, decades of carbon-free electricity generation follow.
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This is a fascinating story about green energy. It almost seems as though we aren’t going to be in a position to buy our own way out of this. You can (and should).You can read the entire thing here.