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ialsoagree t1_j6og5bv wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] 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

I think you are grossly underestimating the raw materials needed for oil extraction, and vastly underestimating the billions of tons of of CO2 fossil fuels generate each year.

As of 2013, Alberta Canada reported that about 30 square miles (77 square kilometers) of land had been dedicated to tailing ponds for tar sand oil extraction.

That's 1 province in 1 country 10 years ago.

And let's be clear here, minerals extracted for green energy are permanently available when accounting for recycling. That tar sand oil is gone the moment you burn it. Want more? Another 30 square miles please...

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[deleted] t1_j6oihz4 wrote

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ialsoagree t1_j6olqp2 wrote

This is complete nonsense.

We broke a record for earth's fastest rotation in 2022, it was 86399.99841 seconds instead of the "normal" 86400 seconds.

Let's say mining could have a significant effect on the earth's rotation. Let's say 0.5 seconds of change per day would be devastating.

It would require almost 400 MILLION terawatt hours of energy to slow the earth's rotation by 0.5 seconds per day.

If we dedicated 100% of all electrical power in the entire world solely to mining, and 100% of that energy went into slowing the earth, none was lost to heat or inefficiencies, it would take 40,000 years of mining to reach 0.5 seconds of change in earth's rotation.

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[deleted] t1_j6on9cr wrote

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ialsoagree t1_j6oqg34 wrote

Re: sources for the math.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotational_energy

The earth has 2.14 * 10^29 joules of kinetic energy in its rotation.

Reducing that by 0.5 seconds requires:

Fraction of total = 0.5 seconds per day / 86400 seconds per day = 0.00000578703

2.14 * 10^29 joules * 0.00000578703 = 1.24 * 10^24 joules.

1 joule = 1 watt second, so...

1.24 * 10^24 J = 344,007,202 terawatt hours.

Humans produce about 11,037 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, so:

344,007,202 TWh / 11.037 TWh / 1 year = 31,168,542 years

Thank you for asking me to double check my math, I forgot to convert GWh to TWh the first time.

It would take over 31 million years, not 40,000 - I was wrong.

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[deleted] t1_j6ot6i4 wrote

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ialsoagree t1_j6otzvj wrote

I mean, I did the math to show that mining causing any significant changes in the earth's orbit or rotation is complete nonsense.

It would take millions of years of effort, with all human energy going to this singular purpose, to make even a miniscule change.

Natural processes will dwarf anything humans do to alter the earth's orbit many times over.

If you believe in this mathematically impossible nonsense, there's nothing more to say. I've shown you the numbers. Humans can't alter these things. We just don't have the energy.

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[deleted] t1_j6ozfvm wrote

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ialsoagree t1_j6p5def wrote

I'm not sure you're understanding me.

Yes, mining effects the rotation of earth.

It will change it by a few nanoseconds. Not enough to impact the environment.

It's not physically possible for us to do more than that. Doing so would require millions of years worth of electricity. See the math above.

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