How much metals the energy transition might require? A lot, but in total this is less than a year’s worth of coal consumption. And a big part is steel (so iron)
Yes one has to account for ore grade and extracted rocks but a low carbon system is better for the environment
#thread
The extraction of coal also creates a lot of waste rock
When looking at that factor, in 2050 metal extraction will still create less waste rock than the current energy system (which does that EVERY year)
I had discussed that fact here in details
In many cases the transition adds to the existing demand but non-Energy demand is higher than energy-related demand
The demand growth is very challenging, mainly because opening up new mines is a lengthy process- there is quite a spread depending on the metal and extraction process. So one needs to act on the demand to get supply and demand matched and avoid big price swings
Extracting all those metals is energy intensive and will lead to GHG emissions but the total cumulative emissions from energy transition metals will hardly be half of one year of fossil fuel emissions…
All those graphs come from an excellent report published by @ETC_energy
energy-transitions.org/publications/m…
To get a better sense of the issues related to metals and the transition, this report should help
zenon.ngo/insights/fluxe…
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