lynn
12-07-2009, 10:20 PM
Rare Earth shortage threatens green revolution
"The key to a low carbon future is not negotiations in Copenhagen (https://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/de+boer+copenhagen+summit+aposneeds+legal+dealapos/3452682) but mud and minerals in China.
All low carbon technologies, from wind turbines to electric cars and low energy lightbulbs, use elements known as Rare Earths. And 95 per cent of these are found in China."...
..."The way China has been extracting and processing the Rare Earth is also thought to be ruining thousands of villager's farmland."...
..."Rare Earth processing in China is a messy, dangerous, polluting business. It uses toxic chemicals – acids, sulfates, ammonia.
The workers have little or no protection, but rare earth elements like yttrium and cerium are prized for their magnetic properties, and high conductivity. Low carbon technologies, the key implementing to a deal in Copenhagen, depend on them.
Green campaigners love wind turbines, but the permanent magnets used to manufacture a three megawatt turbine use about two tonnes of Rare Earth.
The authorities provided a DVD of Baiyun Ebo in Inner Mongolia where most of the world's Rare Earth is mined along with iron ore - they would not let the team film it themselves.
But at Baotou, a hundred miles away, is the frozen tailing lake where Rare Earth mixes with mud, waiting for processing at nearby factories.
Technologies we all use like computers, mobile phones and energy saving light bulbs use Rare Earths processed here, and local villagers whose farmland has been ruined by seepage from the lake pay the price.
High on the frozen steppe of Inner Mongolia, a huge wind farm. China is aiming to be the world leader in wind energy. Chinese negotiators at Copenhagen may resist political commitments, but the government has already subsidising new technologies to boost the economy and be sustainable.
China cannot produce enough Rare Earth for everyone anymore, and if governments are serious about low carbon technologies, other countries will have to start producing.
Champions of a low carbon future have yet to wake up to the environmental price Chinese workers and villagers are paying. At Copenhagen politicians talk of cutting carbon emissions, but they cannot meet any targets without Rare Earth – that means a sustainable supply and not all from China."
Rare Earth shortage threatens green revolution - Channel 4 News (https://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/rare+earth+shortage+threatens+green+revolution/3451837)
"The key to a low carbon future is not negotiations in Copenhagen (https://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/de+boer+copenhagen+summit+aposneeds+legal+dealapos/3452682) but mud and minerals in China.
All low carbon technologies, from wind turbines to electric cars and low energy lightbulbs, use elements known as Rare Earths. And 95 per cent of these are found in China."...
..."The way China has been extracting and processing the Rare Earth is also thought to be ruining thousands of villager's farmland."...
..."Rare Earth processing in China is a messy, dangerous, polluting business. It uses toxic chemicals – acids, sulfates, ammonia.
The workers have little or no protection, but rare earth elements like yttrium and cerium are prized for their magnetic properties, and high conductivity. Low carbon technologies, the key implementing to a deal in Copenhagen, depend on them.
Green campaigners love wind turbines, but the permanent magnets used to manufacture a three megawatt turbine use about two tonnes of Rare Earth.
The authorities provided a DVD of Baiyun Ebo in Inner Mongolia where most of the world's Rare Earth is mined along with iron ore - they would not let the team film it themselves.
But at Baotou, a hundred miles away, is the frozen tailing lake where Rare Earth mixes with mud, waiting for processing at nearby factories.
Technologies we all use like computers, mobile phones and energy saving light bulbs use Rare Earths processed here, and local villagers whose farmland has been ruined by seepage from the lake pay the price.
High on the frozen steppe of Inner Mongolia, a huge wind farm. China is aiming to be the world leader in wind energy. Chinese negotiators at Copenhagen may resist political commitments, but the government has already subsidising new technologies to boost the economy and be sustainable.
China cannot produce enough Rare Earth for everyone anymore, and if governments are serious about low carbon technologies, other countries will have to start producing.
Champions of a low carbon future have yet to wake up to the environmental price Chinese workers and villagers are paying. At Copenhagen politicians talk of cutting carbon emissions, but they cannot meet any targets without Rare Earth – that means a sustainable supply and not all from China."
Rare Earth shortage threatens green revolution - Channel 4 News (https://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/rare+earth+shortage+threatens+green+revolution/3451837)