Timmins Today (2023, August 19) Not Enough Mineral Supply To Meet Looming Energy Demand: U.S. Report. Retrieved August 19, 2023, from
In the US the Inflation Reduction Act has been passed to promote interest in high-tech and green-tech solutions to reach a net zero U.S. economy. The Act increased the demand for important minerals to 23 times higher. There is a sufficient supply of lithium, but Cobalt and nickel are in low supply. There is a large supply of copper in the US largely untapped, but the developments of mines in the US will take a while. This means the US will largely rely on imports from other countries. leading to future competition to secure resources from this country.
This is an important article because it shows the large steps taken by the US government. We are shown how the US government is giving incentives for people to invest and improve green energy. This is beneficial to the future of green energy, but the resources needed for this endeavor are not fully realized. It shows that there are not enough available minerals and that there are not any mining operations ready for this project, so it shows it will likely take years or decades to fully supply the green transition.
Josh- This article highlights one of our biggest conundrums. China has the rights to about 75% of the materials we need for batteries… and most of them are coming from places that may not have the highest standards of env or human safety (ie. Indonesia, Congo). So what to do? Here’s a question for you. Nevada has a large lithium reserve. We could mine it and become more independent at least one thing our batteries need. It takes a lot of water, which NV doesn’t really have and there’s an endangered plant there, which is protected by the Endangered Species Act. Should we try and get the lithium somehow… or do we look to other parts of the world for it? Any thoughts?
Excellent abstract and follow up paragraph.
Thanks for your response. I’ll connect that with another one of my posts, stating that to protect the planet we need to sacrifice some environments. We learned that in Nevada the lithium mining would threaten a native planet that is neither unique nor a keystone species. With this, I would say it is a better alternative to mine in Nevada and other areas containing critical resources so that we can save the planet at the cost of these local environments.