Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Greens advocating a clean energy “revolution” rarely pause to consider the enormous increase in mining activity which would have to occur to support their new green economy.
The Limits of Clean Energy
If the world isn’t careful, renewable energy could become as destructive as fossil fuels.BY JASON HICKEL | SEPTEMBER 6, 2019, 8:51 AM
…
We need a rapid transition to renewables, yes—but scientists warn that we can’t keep growing energy use at existing rates. No energy is innocent. The only truly clean energy is less energy.
In 2017, the World Bank released a little-noticed report that offered the first comprehensive look at this question. It models the increase in material extraction that would be required to build enough solar and wind utilities to produce an annual output of about 7 terawatts of electricity by 2050. That’s enough to power roughly half of the global economy. By doubling the World Bank figures, we can estimate what it will take to get all the way to zero emissions—and the results are staggering: 34 million metric tons of copper, 40 million tons of lead, 50 million tons of zinc, 162 million tons of aluminum, and no less than 4.8 billion tons of iron.
In some cases, the transition to renewables will require a massive increase over existing levels of extraction. For neodymium—an essential element in wind turbines—extraction will need to rise by nearly 35 percent over current levels. Higher-end estimates reported by the World Bank suggest it could double.
The same is true of silver, which is critical to solar panels. Silver extraction will go up 38 percent and perhaps as much as 105 percent. Demand for indium, also essential to solar technology, will more than triple and could end up skyrocketing by 920 percent.
And then there are all the batteries we’re going to need for power storage. To keep energy flowing when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing will require enormous batteries at the grid level. This means 40 million tons of lithium—an eye-watering 2,700 percent increase over current levels of extraction.
…
Read more: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/09/06/the-path-to-clean-energy-will-be-very-dirty-climate-change-renewables/
I suspect the reason people don’t grasp the scale of the effort which would be required to go renewable, is that very few people are aware of how much electricity modern living consumes.
FP goes on to suggest people really need to reduce energy consumption; but how practical is that? There really aren’t that many opportunities to reduce energy consumption without significantly impacting our quality of life. All the things we take for granted, laptops, phones, big TVs, home heating, affordable clothes, are the products of a high energy civilisation.
If you ever take a flight in a light aircraft, one of the first things you notice is how many high voltage power lines are visible on aeronautical maps, and how visible they are from low altitude (see the image at the top of the page). Long lines snaking through the wilderness, leading from cities and towns to enormous power stations which dominate the landscape, usually in remote places far away from the cities whose energy needs they supply. Great landmarks, all very visible from the air. But from the ground you just can’t see the sheer scale of our fossil fuel energy infrastructure unless you go and look for it.
If more people took the trouble to have a look for themselves, to see what it takes to provide us with the electricity we take for granted, I suspect they would understand why the green energy “revolution” has not happened yet, and why it likely never will.
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Mods my latest ‘contribution’ is entirely technical and 100% apropos. Thanx
FP –> foreignpolicy.com/ ( FP)
“FP –> foreignpolicy.com/ ( FP)”
Syntax error.
Attempting to assign variable “FP” to function “foreignpolicy.com” divided by variable “FP”
Result is the attempt to divide a function by a scalar.
Because the function is not expressed fully as foreignpolicy.com(), the function pointer is assumed.
The specified mathematical operation is not allowed, and is undefined.
Error in foreignpolicy.com/ (FP) <- a : could not find function “/<-”
Try to be more careful.
TonyL, good to know you’ll try to be more careful.
TonyL,
A slash is a slash is a slash is a …
If you try to use a text delimimeter as a mathematical operator it’s your problem.
griff September 7, 2019 at 7:18 am
Of course many modern mines use solar power… and electric super dump trucks.
https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/degrussa-mine-turns-to-solar-power-in-40-million-project-2/
https://newatlas.com/komatsu-electric-dump-truck/51377/
Griff, your komatsu-electric-dump-truck is the biggest self-delusion of them all.
Begruendung:
Was auf deiner NEW ATLAS Aussendung https://newatlas.com/komatsu-electric-dump-truck/51377/ nicht gezeigt wird:
Diese electric-dump-trucks werden in der Schweiz eingesetzt um abgebautes Material VOM HANG DER ABBAU GRUBE HINAB ZU TRANSPORTIEREN um das Abbau Material im Tal auf der strasse oder auf der railroad weiter zu transportieren.
– der electric-dump-truck faehrt mit geladener Antriebsbatterie den hang hoch.
– an der Abbau stufe belaedt ein DIESEL BETRIEBENER Bagger den electric-dump-truck.
– der beladene electric-dump-truck rollt mit eigengewicht incl. battery + beladung den hang runter und laedt dabei ueber den retention generator die antriebs battery wieder auf.
– nach abladen der last faehrt der electric-dump-truck mit aufgeladener batterie wieder den hang Hinauf.
___________________________________________________
Es gibt kein perpetuum mobile: die eigentliche Arbeit, die eigentliche energie zufuhr wird auf dem hang verrichtet –
durch den diesel betriebenen bagger!
Tatsaechlich geschieht hier energie verschwendung : der electric-dump-truck muss immer die schwere antriebsbatterie mit schleppen, auch in der ebene nach der entladung.
___________________________________________________
Reason:
What is not shown on your NEW ATLAS broadcast https://newatlas.com/komatsu-electric-dump-truck/51377/:
These electric-dump-trucks are used in Switzerland to transport mined material from the slope of the excavation pit to transport the material into the valley for further transport on the road or on the railroad.
– The electric-dump-truck drives up the slope with a charged battery.
– At the excavation stage, a DIESEL-POWERED wheel-loader loads the excavated material onto the trough of the electric-dump-truck.
– The loaded electric-dump-truck rolls on its own weight including battery + load down the slope while recharging the drive battery via the retention generator.
– after unloading the load, the electric-dump-truck with charged propulsion battery again drives up the slope.
___________________________________________________
There is no perpetuum mobile: the real work, the actual energy supply is done on the slope –
There is no perpetuum mobile: the real work, the actual energy supply is done on the slope –
By the diesel powered wheel-loader!
In fact, energy waste happens here: the electric-dump-truck always has to carry the heavy battery with it, too at ground level after discharge.
In addition to the power line maps you can include the wind mill maps. see http://vfrmap.com/
griff September 7, 2019 at 7:18 am
Of course many modern mines use solar power… and electric super dump trucks.
https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/degrussa-mine-turns-to-solar-power-in-40-million-project-2/
https://newatlas.com/komatsu-electric-dump-truck/51377/
Griff, your komatsu-electric-dump-truck is the biggest self-delusion of them all.
https://youtu.be/VTt125UhyOQ
Begruendung:
Was auf deiner NEW ATLAS Aussendung https://newatlas.com/komatsu-electric-dump-truck/51377/ nicht gezeigt wird:
Diese electric-dump-trucks werden in der Schweiz eingesetzt um abgebautes Material VOM HANG DER ABBAU GRUBE HINAB ZU TRANSPORTIEREN um das Abbau Material im Tal auf der strasse oder auf der railroad weiter zu transportieren.
– der electric-dump-truck faehrt mit geladener Antriebsbatterie den hang hoch.
– an der Abbau stufe belaedt ein DIESEL BETRIEBENER Bagger den electric-dump-truck.
– der beladene electric-dump-truck rollt mit eigengewicht incl. battery + beladung den hang runter und laedt dabei ueber den retention generator die antriebs battery wieder auf.
– nach abladen der last faehrt der electric-dump-truck mit aufgeladener batterie wieder den hang Hinauf.
___________________________________________________
Es gibt kein perpetuum mobile: die eigentliche Arbeit, die eigentliche energie zufuhr wird auf dem hang verrichtet –
durch den diesel betriebenen bagger!
Tatsaechlich geschieht hier energie verschwendung : der electric-dump-truck muss immer die schwere antriebsbatterie mit schleppen, auch in der ebene nach der entladung.
___________________________________________________
Reason:
What is not shown on your NEW ATLAS broadcast https://newatlas.com/komatsu-electric-dump-truck/51377/:
These electric-dump-trucks are used in Switzerland to transport mined material from the slope of the excavation pit to transport the material into the valley for further transport on the road or on the railroad.
– The electric-dump-truck drives up the slope with a charged battery.
– At the excavation stage, a DIESEL-POWERED wheel-loader loads the excavated material onto the trough of the electric-dump-truck.
– The loaded electric-dump-truck rolls on its own weight including battery + load down the slope while recharging the drive battery via the retention generator.
– after unloading the load, the electric-dump-truck with charged propulsion battery again drives up the slope.
___________________________________________________
https://youtu.be/VTt125UhyOQ
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PERPETUUM MOBILE:
There is no perpetuum mobile: the real work, the actual energy supply is done on the slope –
By the diesel powered wheel-loaders!
In fact, energy waste happens here: the electric-dump-truck always has to carry the heavy battery with it, too at ground level after discharge.
Ii found you on Aletho News
Your not following me around are you !!
No, Mira. You did NOT find me – on Aletho News.
Good question, after all you found German Words on Aletho News; after all my name rests on a german word!
https://www.google.com/search?q=wundersamer+Aletho+News&oq=wundersamer+Aletho+News&aqs=chrome.
Mira, if you have reason to believe someone cares to follow you around then look somewhere else.
I can see my house on that map!
E-Vehicle enthusiasts like to point at how clean their vehicles are. But CO2 does not know borders and CO2 concentration is not localized. Emit it anywhere on the planet and it soon is everywhere. That, of course, is a problem if you are afraid of such a thing. But where are most vehicle batteries produced? Yes, in China. Almost 3 quarters of them actually and China has one of the dirtiest electricity generation mixes there is on this planet. It’s also the biggest coal consumer – by an order of magnitude tot he second-largest user. If you live in a country that lives on 100% renewable (for the sake of argument), you still drive with the China CO2 backpack and this alone makes you a worse CO2 emitter than a gasoline vehicle.