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Li-ion batteries don't contain rare earths. Recycling li-ion is currently a booming business because it requires much less energy than processing raw ores - se
by Tade0 4y ago
Li-ion batteries don't contain rare earths.
Recycling li-ion is currently a booming business because it requires much less energy than processing raw ores - see Redwood Materials for more info.
Everyone takes these calculations into account because batteries come under intense scrutiny from people with ulterior motives.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y agoI can't wrap my head around how much lithium or other rare earth metals will need to be mined to transition entirely to solar, wind, and electric cars. What countries are these mined in? What percentage of the US grid is from wind or solar? Like 10%?
- diordiderot 4y agoHere is a nice infographic of one years mining output for perspective https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/All-the-Metals-We-Mined.jpg https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/202...
- tuatoru 4y ago> What percentage of the US grid is from wind or solar? That question needs to be qualified with a date and time. It's a moving target. Generally: number go up.
- moloch-hai 4y agoNo lithium or "rare earths" (which are not anyway at all rare) are needed for a transition to solar and wind for power. Electric cars use lithium, just now, and a bit of rare-earths. (They are used in wiper and window motors.) Cars are their own thing, which we would be better off with less of. Obviously before you have built out wind and solar, you don't have much yet. It is a vacuous observation. Instead, look at the rate of deployment, which follows a classic exponential curve.
- vel0city 4y ago26% of electricity generated in Texas in 2021 was from wind. Installed wind and solar capacity has grown quite a bit since 2021.
- TchoBeer 4y agowhat does the li in li-ion stand for
- WorldMaker 4y agoI don't know if you have glanced at a Periodic Table recently, but Lithium is on the far left hand side and far distant from anything marked "rare earth" much less the "rare earth metals" (which are primarily just right hand of the center-line). As element number 3 on the periodic table it's also per some basic interesting Big Bang statistics the third most common element in the universe. Admittedly most of the universe's Lithium at this point has settled into various compounds which are regularly called "salts" (a short, common name, because they are so common), though household table salt is usually Lithium's "big brother" on the periodic table Sodium, but Lithium itself is still just about as common as dirt on this planet even if don't tend to sprinkle it haphazardly on our foods.
- TchoBeer 4y agoI was misremembering how the term "rare earth metal" is used, my apologies.