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Craig
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Joined: 29 Aug 2006
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votes: 36
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 Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:55 pm Post subject: Clean Energy's Dirty Little Secret |
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Trading in a dependence on middle east oil for a dependence on Chinese neodymium...
| Quote: | Mountain Pass’s mine contains a rare-earth ore that yields neodymium, the pixie dust of green tech—necessary for the lightweight permanent magnets that make Prius motors zoom and for the generators that give wind turbines their electrical buzz. In fact, if we are going to make even a few million of the hybrid and electric cars that are supposed to help rescue the planet from global warming, we will need to double production of neodymium in short order.
But in 2006, nearly all of the world’s roughly 137,000-ton supply of rare-earth oxides came from China. And over the past few years, China has cut exports to nurture its own permanent-magnet industry, sending the price of neodymium oxide to a high of $60 a kilo in 2007. This worries analysts like Irving Mintzer, a senior adviser to the Potomac Energy Fund who sees shortages stifling clean-tech industry, and worse. “If we don’t think this through, we could be trading a troubling dependence on Middle Eastern oil for a troubling dependence on Chinese neodymium.” |
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc.....s-minerals |
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FF_Canuck
Joined: 02 Sep 2006
Posts: 3360
votes: 17
Location: Southern Alberta
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Fascinating article, thanks for sharing that. |
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottaw.....ester.html
So am I to understand that we will now be burning methane (a green house gas) to decrease our dependence on co2 (a green house gas).
Environmentalists are really smart eh. |
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Craig
Site Admin
Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 4415
votes: 36
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Rusty Bedsprings wrote: | http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottaw.....ester.html
So am I to understand that we will now be burning methane (a green house gas) to decrease our dependence on co2 (a green house gas).
Environmentalists are really smart eh. |
Methane itself is a green house gas but it is clean burning - not unlike natural gas (which contains methane - and C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, etc.)
In other words - it is better to burn methane than to release it into the atmosphere. |
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| Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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| ok, but it's not like I belive in global warming anyway though. |
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