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Sustainable Green Transition

Roger B

An interesting piece in the Engineer:

The Engineer - Green transition mineral demands under scrutiny

I wonder if some real numbers will come out of this? 

'According to the WRF and Empa, the extraction and processing of material resources is responsible for 90 per cent of biodiversity loss, 50 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 30 per cent of air pollution impacts. The energy transition and growth in the infrastructure stock globally risk making environmental challenges even more acute.'

Renewable energy sources require a lot of resources.

Parents

  • Some interesting responses.

    I agree that fossil fuels are too valuable as feedstocks just to burn for energy. There may be some less usable fractions/byproducts that can be burnt. The petrochemical industry will always be needed. Wind turbines and EVs will require lubrication, plastic insulation, paint, bitumen for the roads etc.

    I hope that this study will bring the real amount of resources consumed by renewables. Typically the numbers, if you can find them, stop at the terminals of the wind/solar farm. Interconnections, back up sources, etc. are ignored.

    I think EMPA will be fairly unbiased, Siemens and ABB certainly have a large business interest in promoting grid scale renewables.

    This appears just to be concentrating on the resource requirements for the ‘Green Transition’ whatever that is exactly. The comparison between wind, solar and nuclear resource requirements will be interesting.

Reply

  • Some interesting responses.

    I agree that fossil fuels are too valuable as feedstocks just to burn for energy. There may be some less usable fractions/byproducts that can be burnt. The petrochemical industry will always be needed. Wind turbines and EVs will require lubrication, plastic insulation, paint, bitumen for the roads etc.

    I hope that this study will bring the real amount of resources consumed by renewables. Typically the numbers, if you can find them, stop at the terminals of the wind/solar farm. Interconnections, back up sources, etc. are ignored.

    I think EMPA will be fairly unbiased, Siemens and ABB certainly have a large business interest in promoting grid scale renewables.

    This appears just to be concentrating on the resource requirements for the ‘Green Transition’ whatever that is exactly. The comparison between wind, solar and nuclear resource requirements will be interesting.

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