Study: There Are Enough Rare Earths To Fuel Shift To Green Energy

The world has enough rare earth minerals and other critical raw materials to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy to produce electricity and limit global warming, according to a new study that counters concerns about the supply of such minerals, Seth Borenstein reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Rare earth elements, actually aren’t that rare.

With a push to get more electricity from solar panels, wind turbines, hydroelectric, and nuclear power plants, some people have worried that there won’t be enough key minerals to make the decarbonization switch. Rare earth elements, actually aren’t that rare.

The US Geological Survey describes them as “relatively abundant.” They’re essential for the strong magnets for wind turbines; they also show up in smartphones, computer displays, and LED light bulbs.

This study looks at not only those elements but 17 different raw materials required to make electricity that include some downright common resources such as steel, cement, and glass.

A team of scientists looked at the materials — many not often mined heavily in the past — and 20 power sources. They calculated supplies and pollution from mining if green power surged to meet global goals to cut heat-trapping carbon emissions from fossil fuel.

Much more mining is needed, but there are enough minerals to go around and drilling for them will not significantly worsen warming, the study in Friday’s scientific journal Joule concluded.

“Decarbonization is going to be big and messy, but at the same time we can do it,” said study co-author Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the tech company Stripe and Berkeley Earth.

There will be short supplies. Dysprosium is a mineral used for magnets in wind turbines. A big push for cleaner electricity would require three times as much dysprosium as currently produced. But there is more than 12 times as much dysprosium in reserves than would be needed in that push.

Another is tellurium, which is used in industrial solar farms and where there may be only slightly more estimated resources than what would be required. But Hausfather said there are substitutions available in all these materials’ cases.

“There are enough materials in reserves. The analysis is robust and this study debunks those (running out of minerals) concerns,” said Daniel Ibarra, an environment professor at Brown University, who looks at lithium shortages.

But he said production capacity has to grow for some “key metals” and one issue is how fast it can grow.

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