In the transition to so-called clean and green electricity, critical minerals and metals bring new challenges to electricity security.
Solar plants, wind farms, and EVs generally require more minerals to build than their fossil fuel-based counterparts. A typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, and an onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired plant. Since 2010, the average amount of minerals needed for a new unit of power generation capacity has increased by 50% as the share of wind and solar renewables in new investments has risen.
Our electricity is increasingly dependent on rare earth minerals and metals mined for wind turbines, solar panels, and EV batteries under atrocious slave labor and environmental conditions in other countries that the DOE and bureaucrats ignore.
China controls a stranglehold of 80% of the global supply monopoly on rare earth minerals and metals, with the Congo in Africa a 90% source of vital cobalt.
On a total component basis for an EV battery, graphite is about 25% to 28% of the whole EV battery. Turkey has the largest reserves of graphite, followed by Brazil and China. Together, these three countries accounted for 66% of the estimated world graphite reserves.
It should concern everyone that all those “blood minerals” come from mining at locations in the world that are never seen by environmentalists, policymakers, or EV buyers.
For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, just one Tesla EV battery requires the processing of more than 500,000 pounds of materials somewhere on the planet.
A battery for a heavy-duty electric truck can weigh up to 16,000 pounds, which is 16 times more than the Tesla battery!!!! A single truck battery requires 8,000,000 pounds of earth to be dug up. That’s astounding – digging up 8 million pounds of earth for each truck battery!
Policymakers setting “green” policies are oblivious to the reality that Electricity came AFTER the discovery of oil 200 years ago.
We’re over three and a half years into Biden’s presidency, which from the outset promised an “all-government” regulatory onslaught to force a transition away from fossil fuels to “green” electricity.
Demand for products made from oil is stressing the supply chain, thus continuously spiking the cost of products and fuels from fossil fuels to meet society’s materialistic demands.
Most importantly, there is a lost reality that the primary usage of crude oil is NOT for the generation of electricity but to manufacture derivatives and fuels, which are the ingredients of everything needed by economies and lifestyles to exist and prosper, i.e., all products that did not exist before the 1800s.
None of the six methods for generating electricity can manufacture anything to support a materialistic society! Electricity can charge an iPhone but cannot make the iPhone. Electricity can make the defibrillator work in the hospital, but it cannot make the defibrillator.
Products that need electricity, such as iPhones, defibrillators, computers, data centers, and X-ray machines, are also dependent on the petrochemicals manufactured from crude oil to make all the parts and components of every method to generate electricity.
Looking back at the history of the petroleum industry, it illustrates that the black cruddy looking crude oil was virtually useless unless it could be manufactured (refineries) into oil derivatives that are now the basis of transportation fuels and the oil derivatives that are the basis of products, such as silicon-based semiconductor chips, plastics, lubricants, and medications, that are essential for supporting modern lifestyles.
“Big oil” only exists because of the wealthier countries being addicted to the products and fuels that are manufactured from fossil fuels that make OUR life more comfortable?” OUR needs for smaller and faster electronics and for bigger and faster planes, ships, and launches into outer space are the only reasons that crude oil is needed.
Thus, before we chastise “big oil”, we must ask ourselves, “How dare ME to continuously demand the products and fuels made from oil that make MY life more comfortable?”
Rick Amato’s Politics & Profits 8-minute conversation with Ronald Stein is an 8-minute video conversation on Your America TV that sheds light on the fact that those pursuing net-zero emissions may be oblivious to the reality that wind turbines and solar panels do different things than crude oil. “Mandatory Emissions (just in wealthy countries) To Achieve Net-Zero Is A Fool’s Game.”
Adding huge wind turbine blades and solar panels to generate electricity occasionally is the “green” scam of the century, as “renewables” are increasing fossil fuel demands, but those so-called renewables CANNOT make any products that are the basis of our materialistic world.
Ronald Stein P.E. - Ambassador for Energy & Infrastructure, Co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations”, policy advisor on energy literacy for The Heartland Institute, and The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, and National TV.
John Shanahan is an engineer and energy consultant.
China controls a stranglehold of 80% of the global supply monopoly on rare earth minerals and metals, with the Congo in Africa a 90% source of vital cobalt.
On a total component basis for an EV battery, graphite is about 25% to 28% of the whole EV battery. Turkey has the largest reserves of graphite, followed by Brazil and China. Together, these three countries accounted for 66% of the estimated world graphite reserves.
It should concern everyone that all those “blood minerals” come from mining at locations in the world that are never seen by environmentalists, policymakers, or EV buyers.
For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, just one Tesla EV battery requires the processing of more than 500,000 pounds of materials somewhere on the planet.
A battery for a heavy-duty electric truck can weigh up to 16,000 pounds, which is 16 times more than the Tesla battery!!!! A single truck battery requires 8,000,000 pounds of earth to be dug up. That’s astounding – digging up 8 million pounds of earth for each truck battery!
Policymakers setting “green” policies are oblivious to the reality that Electricity came AFTER the discovery of oil 200 years ago.
- ALL electrical generation from hydro, coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, and solar are ALL built with the products, components, and equipment that are made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil.
- All EVs, solar panels, and wind turbines are also built with products, components, and equipment made from crude oil derivatives.
- Further, all cars, trucks, excavating equipment, cranes, merchant ships, planes, and trains are also made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil.
We’re over three and a half years into Biden’s presidency, which from the outset promised an “all-government” regulatory onslaught to force a transition away from fossil fuels to “green” electricity.
Demand for products made from oil is stressing the supply chain, thus continuously spiking the cost of products and fuels from fossil fuels to meet society’s materialistic demands.
Most importantly, there is a lost reality that the primary usage of crude oil is NOT for the generation of electricity but to manufacture derivatives and fuels, which are the ingredients of everything needed by economies and lifestyles to exist and prosper, i.e., all products that did not exist before the 1800s.
None of the six methods for generating electricity can manufacture anything to support a materialistic society! Electricity can charge an iPhone but cannot make the iPhone. Electricity can make the defibrillator work in the hospital, but it cannot make the defibrillator.
Products that need electricity, such as iPhones, defibrillators, computers, data centers, and X-ray machines, are also dependent on the petrochemicals manufactured from crude oil to make all the parts and components of every method to generate electricity.
Looking back at the history of the petroleum industry, it illustrates that the black cruddy looking crude oil was virtually useless unless it could be manufactured (refineries) into oil derivatives that are now the basis of transportation fuels and the oil derivatives that are the basis of products, such as silicon-based semiconductor chips, plastics, lubricants, and medications, that are essential for supporting modern lifestyles.
“Big oil” only exists because of the wealthier countries being addicted to the products and fuels that are manufactured from fossil fuels that make OUR life more comfortable?” OUR needs for smaller and faster electronics and for bigger and faster planes, ships, and launches into outer space are the only reasons that crude oil is needed.
Thus, before we chastise “big oil”, we must ask ourselves, “How dare ME to continuously demand the products and fuels made from oil that make MY life more comfortable?”
Rick Amato’s Politics & Profits 8-minute conversation with Ronald Stein is an 8-minute video conversation on Your America TV that sheds light on the fact that those pursuing net-zero emissions may be oblivious to the reality that wind turbines and solar panels do different things than crude oil. “Mandatory Emissions (just in wealthy countries) To Achieve Net-Zero Is A Fool’s Game.”
Adding huge wind turbine blades and solar panels to generate electricity occasionally is the “green” scam of the century, as “renewables” are increasing fossil fuel demands, but those so-called renewables CANNOT make any products that are the basis of our materialistic world.
This article was sourced HERE
5 comments:
Surely you don't expect Green voters to be logical. Most are public servants with a vested interest in State expansion and young women who vote according to fashion, identity politics and their hormones.
The desire to achieve Net-Zero is a fools game that our indoctrinated politicians on both sides of the house pursue. They are prepared to spend billions of dollars to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. It’s a madness that feeds off itself where the author states that it takes 500,000 pounds of material somewhere on the planet to produce a single Tesla battery. When will these fools realise that the Emperor is naked?
Sadly democratic capitalist methods are not ideal for the long term living environment of mankind (and the animals). Innovations hoped to be constructive are seized upon as primarily profit opportunity, with associated self defeating demand. If we all ran and conserved cars like the old 2 million km Toyota recently reported, world CO2 production would be hugely reduced. Instead we produce energy absorbing likely short lived electric cars. To save the world employment, consumption, life style, and GDP will have to reduce. A major problem is to reduce the subsidy required from the productive often with small families of the low or non productive with large.
If ONLY the NZ , PM Luxon would make a press statement that he understands this excellent article completely and then define his interpretation of CARBON ZERO. Using Carbon Zero in his language has become boring and frankly "a Biden like presentation". NZ needs to gain productive growth greater than Government spending and it will NOT happen under a Carbon Zero mentality.
Well said Basil
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