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Don't we have a similar issue with demand for lithium for batteries and rare earths for PV panels to the issue we have for uranium/nuclear? It is my impression
by riffraff 4y ago
Don't we have a similar issue with demand for lithium for batteries and rare earths for PV panels to the issue we have for uranium/nuclear?
It is my impression both pro-renewables and pro-nuclear like to downplay the resource sourcing issues.
- tuatoru 4y agoThere isn't a resource problem for batteries. Lithium is best for mobility applications and lithium formulations are much further down the learning curve than other chemistries. However, all of vanadium redox, iron-air, organic polymer-based, calcium salt, and sodium chemistries are very nearly competitive, or actually competitive with lithium in various grid storage niches despite being at the very beginning of their learning curves. Is there ever going to be a shortage of iron or sodium? Or calcium or carbon, for that matter? No.
- pfdietz 4y agoNo, because there are thousands of potential battery chemistries (and storage technologies other than batteries), and also because the oft-repeated falsehood that PV contains rare earths is still false.