3 ms·

You can't really mine for high tech materials without fossil fuels. Hydroelectric won't help when what you need is to extract ore from a mountain.

by dpark 10y ago

philipkglass 10y ago
Electrically driven mining equipment: http://www.hitachiconstruction.com/about/media-press-releases/hitachi-introduces-five-mining-electric-drive-shovels-ex1900e-6-ex2600e-6-ex3600e-6-ex5600e-6-and-ex8000e-6/ http://www.hitachiconstruction.com/about/media-press-release... http://www.oemoffhighway.com/article/11224086/electrification-of-underground-mining-equipment http://www.oemoffhighway.com/article/11224086/electrificatio... If you just mean that it's impractical to build the electrical grid out to a remote mining site, that's true. In the present day remote mining sites typically use diesel fueled generators, now being supplemented with photovoltaic arrays in sunny regions. If you imagine a world with approximately-1940-level technology (so PV is not yet an option) and no fossil fuel, then you'd need to use something like biodiesel or ethanol instead of fossil-derived diesel.
- dpark 10y ago
  > If you just mean that it's impractical to build the electrical grid out to a remote mining site Yes, that was the general issue. We do a lot of mining in remote sites that don't have hydro power or any realistic way to get it there. You could use biofuels, but it's hard to imagine bootstrapping a technical society to the point that that becomes feasible without prior use of fossil fuels.
adrianN 10y ago
If you have a suitable river not too far away you actually can mine using hydromechanical power. [1] Turning it into electricity loses a lot, but transmission is of course easier [1] http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2013/01/mechanical-transmission-of-power-stangenkunst.html http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2013/01/mechanical-transmissi...

3 ms·

You can't really mine for high tech materials without fossil fuels. Hydroelectric won't help when what you need is to extract ore from a mountain.

by dpark 10y ago

You can't really mine for high tech materials without fossil fuels. Hydroelectric won't help when what you need is to extract ore from a mountain.

philipkglass 10y ago
Electrically driven mining equipment: http://www.hitachiconstruction.com/about/media-press-releases/hitachi-introduces-five-mining-electric-drive-shovels-ex1900e-6-ex2600e-6-ex3600e-6-ex5600e-6-and-ex8000e-6/ http://www.hitachiconstruction.com/about/media-press-release... http://www.oemoffhighway.com/article/11224086/electrification-of-underground-mining-equipment http://www.oemoffhighway.com/article/11224086/electrificatio... If you just mean that it's impractical to build the electrical grid out to a remote mining site, that's true. In the present day remote mining sites typically use diesel fueled generators, now being supplemented with photovoltaic arrays in sunny regions. If you imagine a world with approximately-1940-level technology (so PV is not yet an option) and no fossil fuel, then you'd need to use something like biodiesel or ethanol instead of fossil-derived diesel.
- dpark 10y ago
  > If you just mean that it's impractical to build the electrical grid out to a remote mining site Yes, that was the general issue. We do a lot of mining in remote sites that don't have hydro power or any realistic way to get it there. You could use biofuels, but it's hard to imagine bootstrapping a technical society to the point that that becomes feasible without prior use of fossil fuels.
adrianN 10y ago
If you have a suitable river not too far away you actually can mine using hydromechanical power. [1] Turning it into electricity loses a lot, but transmission is of course easier [1] http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2013/01/mechanical-transmission-of-power-stangenkunst.html http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2013/01/mechanical-transmissi...