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Truth_is_Liberal t1_j6k94fp wrote

Reply to comment by THEREALCABEZAGRANDE in Study: Enough minerals to fuel green energy shift -"The analysis is robust and this study debunks those (running out of minerals) concerns" by Surur

That's not unknown at all. We know the effects from global climate change are even financially worse than the pollution from mining rare earth metals. The human cost difference is astounding. In case your seeming love of hydrocarbons indicates a certain political preference, I urge you to go look up even the most conservative financial impacts of climate change.

I will say this though: it is becoming abundantly clear that we cannot simply replace every car, truck, bus, etc with a lithium-ion powered one. We need to continue to invest in parallel battery tech, especially for grid-level storage. We definitely don't want those two market segments competing for lithium. Supercapacitors can also greatly reduce our need for battery storage in the same cars.

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THEREALCABEZAGRANDE t1_j6m1wj9 wrote

I mean that we cannot replace hydrocarbons. With our current level of tech or even near term the ONLY transportation sectors that we can even begin to impact will be commuter vehicle and short trip commercial. Long distance ground transport is still far out of reach, to say nothing of oceanic shipping. And that yes, rare earth mining and alternative energy production will have just as many negative effects as the use of hydrocarbons, just different ones.

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CriticalUnit t1_j6m5ev1 wrote

> I mean that we cannot replace hydrocarbons

Of course not. they are a non-renewable energy source.

We can stop using them though by phasing in the next generation during our energy transition. Some applications will be easy, others more difficult. Not only can we, but we have to for our own survival. (not to mention in the long run it will be cheaper)

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Truth_is_Liberal t1_j6mligv wrote

Actually most of what you claimed was difficult is actually easy. Ships have a bunch of green tech on the way, since they all figured out slow was more efficient anyway. They'll just go at the same speed, but with different powerplants.

Plus, even electric cars (which aren't my fave idea) already have reasonable ranges now with today's tech. Give it five more years for us to figure out expansions and replacement upgrades.

You realize that the weight of batteries or a green power source is negligible to a ship or a train right?

You want to talk about difficult? Help figure out electric airplanes. They already exist, but they're currently only practical for short haul flights. That's still an amazing savings in costs, maintenance, and environmental damage. It's just not ready for transatlantic flights yet.

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