A mixture of graphite, lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese is needed for state-of-the-art BEV batteries (90% of the anticipated demand for energy storage), whereas vanadium is the metal of choice for static power storage for industrial needs, such as solar and wind farms (World Bank Report in 2020). Hydro power demands concrete and steel for basic infrastructure in addition to copper and aluminium for power transmission 1.Įnergy storage will be needed for wind and solar electricity generation as well as BEVs. Wind energy demands steel, copper, aluminium, zinc and lead as well as neodymium for turbine magnets. Photovoltaic cells require aluminium, copper, silver and steel (and silica sand 2) as well as other elements, such as indium, selenium and tellurium, depending on the type of technology. In addition, the energy revolution towards renewables, that is, wind, solar, wave, tidal, hydro, geothermal and nuclear, together with the newly built infrastructure for delivery, are highly reliant on mineral-based technologies 2. Replacing the estimated 1.4 billion ICEVs worldwide would need forty times these amounts. This amount is twice the current annual world production of cobalt, an entire year’s world production of neodymium and three quarters of the world production of lithium. To switch the UK’s fleet of 31.5 million ICEVs to battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), it would take an estimated 207,900 tonnes cobalt, 264,600 tonnes lithium carbonate, 7,200 tonnes neodymium and dysprosium and 2,362,500 tonnes copper, as discussed in a letter by myself and my colleagues, in which we set out the resource challenge of meeting net zero emissions in the UK by 2050. For transport to hit ‘net zero’, the internal combustion engine needs to be eliminated from cars, as recognized by the Committee on Climate Change. Internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) are the greatest contributors to carbon emissions in the UK. As a result of these sourcing challenges, mining remains necessary to deliver validated technical solutions needed for the rapid decarbonization demanded in the pledge. Such alternatives, for example, Li-free multivalent metal-ion batteries to replace Li-ion batteries, are less mature in their development and will take time to industrialize 1. Substitution for some of these metals might be possible in alternative technology solutions to reduce reliance on specific commodities, but this is challenging to achieve in such a short timeline. ![]() Even for metals, such as aluminium and cobalt, for which end-of-life recycling is up to 70%, secondary supply still only accounts for 30% of their growing demand in the case of lithium, recycling currently only accounts for 1% of present demand, as highlighted in the recycling rates of metals status report of the International Resource Panel. Stocks of secondary supplies and recycling rates are inadequate to meet demand. The ambition is a fully circular economy, in which demand can be satisfied by reuse and recycling however, we are not yet at that point. Green technology requires non-renewable raw materials sourced from primary geological resources (mines) or secondary supply (reuse or recycling).
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