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44 sats \ 0 replies \ @Cje95 25 Sep \ on: Low-Carbon Technologies Need Far Less Mining Than Fossil Fuels charts_and_numbers
I think one thing that needs to be highlighted that isn't is where these minerals are located. Coal, oil, nat gas I mean pretty much everywhere whereas the rare earths many many countries do not have the same sort of ease of access to/the cost to extract outstrips the price they could get (rare earths are not that rare instead they just are always found in small quantities).
Bigger issues are going to be cobalt whose known reserves are extremely centralized in the DRC and Australia and Lithium. In the US conservationists and green energy people are starting to go after each other because sadly a ton of these good mining places are colocated with habitats that people want to keep untouched.
Another thing to factor in is the recyclability of renewables compared to non. Renewables from solar to wind either A) release a bunch of toxic stuff when attempting to break them down (solar panels) or B) not being recyclable with wind turbines. The US National Labs are currently doing a ton of research on addressing these issues but Cali in particular is known to be facing a huge issue with a ton of their current solar panels nearing the end of their lifespan and having nothing to do with them.
NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab) in Golden, Colorado has been doing fantastic work with GE over the wind turbine issue but given GE's wind energy segment getting pummeled I am not sure if they are going to be able to roll out the renewable blades they had previously talked about doing.