mineral depletion Archives

Tag: mineral depletion

Clean energy minerals shortage: Who knew it could happen?

By Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights

Will there be enough of the minerals critical for the technology behind the so-called green energy revolution?

New Rare Earth Resources: A Non-Solution For A Non-Problem

By Ugo Bardi, Cassandra's legacy

Any report on mineral availability that starts with "a semi-infinite deposit" should be taken with great caution - it reminds of when Julian Simon said that we have oil for "six billion years". About this report on rare earths, I'd say that calling it "clueless" is way too kind.

Mineral Depletion Need not Be Always a Problem: The Case of Aluminum

By Sgouris Sgouridis, Cassandra's legacy

This post was inspired by my participation at the ARABAL 2017 conference in Muscat, Oman to discuss the options for renewable energy integration in the aluminum industry. It addresses a seeming reluctance I encountered during the discussion to adopt RE with some initial considerations on how the industry can be transformed away from utilizing fossil inputs. It provides an overview of the industry’s products, scale and impacts, before discussing transition opportunities.

“An artist’s conception of Nikola Tesla’s system for transmitting power by radio waves.” (December 1925). Illustration by Frank R. Paul in “Radio News”

Syfy’s ‘The Expanse’: The imperial project unhinged

By Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights

Syfy channel's political/military thriller "The Expanse," set hundreds of years in the future, seems eerily resonant with our own era. The two major powers of the solar system, Earth and Mars, have been locked in a cold war for decades. Exploited populations working and living in the asteroid belt--an area that supplies crucial raw materials to both empires--become the flashpoint for what could turn out to be a civilization-destroying hot war between the two imperial powers.