The Extrusion That Powers the Open Road
Wind turbines under construction at the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm in 2009. photo: Ted/Wikimedia Commons
Often on the news, in the grocery store, and at the gas station, we are experiencing the limits of the planet’s supplies.
President Biden calls 500,000 new EV charging stations It will be installed across the country to keep individuals free behind the wheel while reducing combustion emissions.This expansion is coupled with a call to switch electricity generation to renewable energy, and as a new requirement for Battery, wires and other auxiliary materials will be manufactured in the USA.In addition, we also need More than double the scaling speed of transmission lines in order to transport electricity from remote wind and solar farms to the population centers where it will be used.
Achieving these goals—noble as they are—will challenge us to use finite, hard-to-get natural resources like copper. We will continue to feel increasing pressure as demand for these natural resources increases. In fact, we don’t even know if the planetary supply can meet such a huge demand.
Copper is an extraordinary mover (conductor) of electrons. Electrons, no matter how they are collected, travel through space on copper or copper alloy wires and transmission lines to the end user.Although seemingly usable, copper may only account for 0.0006% the crust.no way to have Inventory clearance how there is a lot of copper available. What we do know is that demand for copper has has increased dramatically over the past few decadesAnd, like many other elements consumed by humans, the price of copper rises with increased demand, difficulty of extraction, and increased transportation costs.
When I bake sourdough bread, I know I need five cups of flour and one cup of starter. Not having enough, I postpone baking to another day and source more ingredients. In this example, it’s easy to know how much flour I need and what I have available to plan how much and when to make bread. For the metals and ores we need to build our electric grid and other necessary technologies, the same information is not as readily available; we don’t know how much we can build because we don’t know how much is available. This lack of information makes me worry that green energy transition plans may be half-baked.
My concerns were confirmed by environmental analysts lester brownWHO Think we should restructure taxes and let markets tell the truth about the environmentand early 20th century geologist and copper mining expert Ira Joralemon, who wrote it in 1924:
“…the age of electricity and copper will be short. At the high rates of production that must arise, the world’s copper supply will scarcely last for twenty years. . . . Our electricity-based civilization will gradually die out.”
Two decades have passed, but Joralemon’s critique of the idea that growth and demand can be sustained while planetary supply remains constant has given rise to a deep understanding and kudos to the planetary recovery process and limitations. Copper mines, lithium mines, iron ores, and other substances whose recovery cycle exceeds the human survival cycle will eventually be permanently exhausted; let us question the foundation of building a society on that exhaustion, not a regeneration foundation.
Deep-sea minerals, including copper, have been hailed as a savior, a painkiller to rising demand.important to know Human beings have a more comprehensive understanding of space More oceans than our home planet. Only 50 years ago, scientists believed that the midnight (deep-sea) region of the ocean was devoid of life—omg, they were wrong. The non-photosynthetic life there is large and productive, but difficult to study. Even with robotic excavators, this is a dangerous, isolated, unpredictable and abrasive work environment.
The environmental impact of deep-sea mining may not be good either. After extraction or dredging, Slurry of deep-sea floats and drifters Will stay in the sunny (pelagic) parts of the ocean with our favorite plastics and megafauna.On land, we see consequences in similar forms of mining dead zones where plants do not grow, and polluted water can’t drink can’t swim and make people, plants and animals sick. We can only imagine, and hopefully never discover, the consequences of this abuse on our global climate regulator – the oceans. Our planet’s oceans are already battling rising temperatures, changing currents and increasing acidity.Consequences and costs of deep sea mining accidents may be irreversibleboth because of the remoteness of the mining sites and because of the fragile environments in which they operate.
America’s proposed goals of doubling transmission lines and creating a separate EV charging network, while expanding solar and wind production to shift to 100% renewable generation, may not be the consequenceless panacea we imagine. We need to set realistic expectations, increase recycling, reduce redundancies, and make the best use of the limited resources we have available. Ultimately, we may need to find more regenerative ways to sustain our civilization.
Pearl Gray is the Assistant Program Director for Climate Action at the Columbia Climate Institute.
