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Tag Archives: rare earth
Not enough rare metals to scale up solar power
Preface. Sunshine may be free, but the materials to make solar contraptions sure aren’t. Since sunshine arrives in a diluted form, vast expanses of solar photovoltaic panels will be needed to produce the world’s 24,000 Terawatt hours of electrical power … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Elements: Critical, Elements: Rare Earth, Mining, Photovoltaic Solar, Recycle
Tagged gallium, indium, photovoltaic, PV, rare earth, Ruthenium, solar, tellurium
5 Comments
What are rare earth metals and how are they used?
Preface. After oil, the main feature of new products will be drastic simplification. The re-use of existing stuff. Lack of precision machine tools as they rust away. Back to basics: wood, iron, and clay. Yet every high-tech object depends on … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Elements: Rare Earth, Mining
Tagged gallium, indium, mining, rare earth, solar
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Autos need finite rare earth, critical, & precious metals
An electric car uses five times as many minerals as a conventional car (IEA 2020): IEA, Minerals used in selected power generation technologies, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/minerals-used-in-selected-power-generation-technologies There are 17 rare earth elements (REE) that China controls up to 97% of … Continue reading
Posted in Automobiles, Elements: Rare Earth
Tagged Cerium, china, dysprosium, Europium, lanthanum, neodymium, Praseodymium, rare earth, terbium, Yttrium
1 Comment
High-Tech can’t last: limited essential elements with limited lifespans
There are 17 rare earth elements in the periodic table. About nine of those elements go into every iPhone sold… and if China were suddenly to disappear from a map tomorrow, Apple would lose about 90% of those elements. Source: … Continue reading
Solar Photovoltaics (PV) limited by raw materials
This paper (excerpts below) shows that there are limits to growth — there simply aren’t enough minerals in the world that can be produced physically and/or at a reasonable cost for the many of the most common kinds of PV … Continue reading
Posted in Elements: Rare Earth, Photovoltaic Solar
Tagged rare earth
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John Gribbin, Astrophysicist. If we destroy ourselves, a grave injustice to the universe
Below are a few paragraphs from Hirshfeld’s excellent book review of: John Gribbin. 2011. Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique. Humans are a miracle of blood, bone, and brain, a volatile mixture of compassion and brutality … Continue reading
Posted in World's Best Scientists
Tagged extinction, john gribbin, rare earth
Comments Off on John Gribbin, Astrophysicist. If we destroy ourselves, a grave injustice to the universe