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> It is important to remember that we are currently extracting megatons of fossil Extracting oil doesn't leave the total devastation behind it as extracting co
by paganel 4y ago
> It is important to remember that we are currently extracting megatons of fossil
Extracting oil doesn't leave the total devastation behind it as extracting cobalt does [1]. A several orders of magnitude increase in that sort of abomination that I linked to doesn't have anything to do with "saving the planet", it's all politics and money. There's also the whole "child labor" thing [2] but let's assume that countries like Congo will sort it out sometimes in the next 10-20 years, they most probably won't, but there's always hope.
[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2013-02-19T120000Z_486480953_GM1E92J13C001_RTRMADP_3_DRCONGO-MINING.jpg?resize=770%2C513 https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2013-02...
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/a...
- blopker 4y agoI'm not going to defend the damage mining like this does, but it seems unfair to say oil is any better [0]. In my opinion, oil causes much more damage and is harder to contain. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills
- paganel 4y agoI agree about harder to contain, that's why that oil pipeline that was supposed to pass through the middle of an industrialised country was cancelled [1], that was a political move by definition, while cobalt mines and the like, because they mostly "happen" in the middle of Africa, are just seen as "doesn't really affect me -> it isn't really that important". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline#Phase_4_(canceled) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline#Phase_4_(can...
- formerly_proven 4y agoWow, a pit mine. What an a-bom-i-na-tion! https://www.google.com/maps/place/coalmining/@50.9809314,6.4382629,37414m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/place/coalmining/@50.9809314,6.4...
- paganel 4y agoYes, pit-mines are abominations, as are coal pit-mines. I was comparing cobalt mining with oil extraction.
- adrianN 4y agoToday, one of the major uses of Cobalt is removing sulfur from gasoline. Somehow that never comes up in the "child labor!!" arguments against electric cars.
- kriro 4y agoDesulphurisation is required to turn the extracted oil into something that can be used in a car. That process requires cobalt. So yeah the dirty cobalt business is directly supported by oil-based cars as well. However, I think catalyst use vs. battery use of cobalt is roughly 1:5 so your point remains valid (it's used more in batteries than in desulphurisation). Unfortunately I cannot find free statistics to support this 1:5 ratio which is from memory, maybe someone else can supply a link.
- Maakuth 4y ago1:5 in what? I mean if it takes five times the cobalt to manufacture a kilogram of battery compared to a kilogram of gasoline, that sounds like a point in favour of EVs. You can only use that gasoline once after all, whereas the lithium could serve the full vehicle lifetime.