One of the Hillsdales lectures that you won’t listen describes the environmental costs of the green movement. Guess how much earth has to be mined to get enough rare earth minerals to build one Tesla battery?
One of the Hillsdales lectures that you won’t listen describes the environmental costs of the green movement. Guess how much earth has to be mined to get enough rare earth minerals to build one Tesla battery?
NCMaureen: I'm well aware of the limited supplies of lithium, cobalt, rare earths, and other essential components of our hi-tech world. I've read an entire book on the subject, Michael Klare's The Race for What's Left. But I'm also aware that scientists at MIT have developed battery technology based on three abundant and inexpensive materials -- aluminum, sulphur, and salt.
But we already know that we cannot go on pouring greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, so alternative energy sources must be found if we hope to sustain a lifestyle as energy dependent as ours.
And I know enough about the Hillsdale lectures to view them with skepticism. The fossil fuel companies take their cues from the tobacco industry. When the surgeon general tied tobacco use to cancer, Big Tobacco initiated a propaganda war to counter the science. They established "research" centers at universities and bought off scientists who sold their integrity by claiming to have experimental evidence that tobacco is safe. Now, after countless needless deaths, we know it was all a scam. Big Oil is doing the same thing today, using outlets like Hilldale sow doubt and confusion about climate science and alternative energy.
As for the allegation about environmental costs of producing lithium-ion batteries, they are dubious at best.
Transport and Environment, an NGO that studies the environmental impact of transportation systems compared the impacts of gas-powered and electric vehicles. They found:
Electric vehicles require far less in the way of mined metals.
It is anticipated that the amount of lithium, cobalt, and nickel to produce a car battery will drop significantly over the next decade, and by 2035 it is expected that over a fifth of the lithium and 65% of the cobalt and nickel will come from recycling. The full study can be found at:
So, instead of technology we know to be harmful (internal combustion engines powered by gas) let us hope that the technology to produce electric vehicles powered by clean energy can be perfected. Otherwise, we're in deep doo-doo.
One of the Hillsdales lectures that you won’t listen describes the environmental costs of the green movement. Guess how much earth has to be mined to get enough rare earth minerals to build one Tesla battery?
NCMaureen: I'm well aware of the limited supplies of lithium, cobalt, rare earths, and other essential components of our hi-tech world. I've read an entire book on the subject, Michael Klare's The Race for What's Left. But I'm also aware that scientists at MIT have developed battery technology based on three abundant and inexpensive materials -- aluminum, sulphur, and salt.
https://news.mit.edu/2022/aluminum-sulfur-battery-0824
But we already know that we cannot go on pouring greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, so alternative energy sources must be found if we hope to sustain a lifestyle as energy dependent as ours.
And I know enough about the Hillsdale lectures to view them with skepticism. The fossil fuel companies take their cues from the tobacco industry. When the surgeon general tied tobacco use to cancer, Big Tobacco initiated a propaganda war to counter the science. They established "research" centers at universities and bought off scientists who sold their integrity by claiming to have experimental evidence that tobacco is safe. Now, after countless needless deaths, we know it was all a scam. Big Oil is doing the same thing today, using outlets like Hilldale sow doubt and confusion about climate science and alternative energy.
As for the allegation about environmental costs of producing lithium-ion batteries, they are dubious at best.
https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/environment-verify/electric-vehicles-carbon-footprint/536-92531ae7-c68f-4eaa-a24d-6c04c4b9ff95
Transport and Environment, an NGO that studies the environmental impact of transportation systems compared the impacts of gas-powered and electric vehicles. They found:
Electric vehicles require far less in the way of mined metals.
It is anticipated that the amount of lithium, cobalt, and nickel to produce a car battery will drop significantly over the next decade, and by 2035 it is expected that over a fifth of the lithium and 65% of the cobalt and nickel will come from recycling. The full study can be found at:
https://electrek.co/2021/03/01/mining-electric-car-batteries-hundreds-of-times-better-than-petrol-car-emission-cycles/
So, instead of technology we know to be harmful (internal combustion engines powered by gas) let us hope that the technology to produce electric vehicles powered by clean energy can be perfected. Otherwise, we're in deep doo-doo.