I am going to present you with two inputs that are not my own. But they fit nicely with what I’ve been saying on this subject for a number of years now.
The first is a quote from a post I read this morning. It explains what we do to the planet and the atmosphere every time we build a turbine or make an EV car battery or solar farm battery
And the picture it paints is incomplete in that it doesn’t cover ALL the costs and increases in transportation and diminishing material sources associated with the lofty goals of the Green movement.
I have held, and still do, that the energy goals blurted out by our government are absurd in the extreme. We will not achieve them in the time they propose. And the damage we’ll do trying doesn’t justify aspiring for X and only achieving say 50% of X.
There are two reason for this. I believe the people setting these goals know what I know. They and their cronies don’t care if we ever actually get anywhere near them. They have long since been in the process of buying up blocks and/or controlling interest in the materials we need to do it all. Just the effort to move along a bit toward the goals will provide them huge returns whether we get to net zero ANYTHING by 2030…or even 2060.
So the aspirations are not honorable. They are not genuine efforts to improve the world or clean the environment. They are not idealistic. They are dishonest. The aspirants already know we won’t get there.
That knob, Al Gore has made billions selling his green snake oil around the world. He’s got at least half of you believing his entire gospel. As a result, he’s got most politicians pretending to believe it. They write the checks with our tax dollars to subsidize companies like the ones that knob, Al Gore owns.
Before we begin, I’ll give you my conclusions upfront. We must STOP now and send everyone back to the drawing board. With the present and future supply of materials needed for the grand plans, especially copper, we have set ourselves on a collision course with disaster. For example, as demand for just lithium double and redoubles, as it quickly will on our present trajectory, what do you think will happen to just the price of your cell phone. Copper demand will many times greater. What will happen to the price of 50 feet of copper wire to power your garage?
After first quoting the input from earlier today, I will embed a video in the text below the audio line. If you are listening as a podcast, you should be able to simply click on the video and continue listening. The video supports and expounds on the quote with hard numbers.
As you read or listen to quote, keep in mind that our mineral mining yield per ton of earth goes down every year. That is NOT going to change.1
“This is a Tesla model Y battery. It takes up all of the space under the passenger compartment of the car. To manufacture it you need:
--12 tons of rock for Lithium (can also be extracted from sea water)
-- 5 tons of cobalt minerals (Most cobalt is made as a byproduct of processing copper and nickel ores. It is the most difficult and expensive material to obtain for a battery.)
-- 3 tons nickel ore
-- 12 tons of copper ore
You must move 250 tons of soil to obtain:
-- 26.5 pounds of Lithium
-- 30 pounds of nickel
-- 48.5 pounds of manganese
-- 15 pounds of cobalt
To manufacture the battery also requires:
-- 441 pounds of aluminum, steel and/or plastic
-- 112 pounds of graphite
The Caterpillar 994A is used to move the earth to obtain the minerals needed for this battery. The Caterpillar consumes 264 gallons of diesel in 12 hours.
The bulk of necessary minerals for manufacturing the batteries come from China or Africa. Much of the labor in Africa is done by children. When you buy an electric car, China profits most.
The 2021 Tesla Model Y OEM battery (the cheapest Tesla battery) is currently for sale on the Internet for $4,999 not including shipping or installation. The battery weighs 1,000 pounds (you can imagine the shipping cost). The cost of Tesla batteries are:
Model 3 -- $14,000+ (Car MSRP $38,990)
Model Y -- $5,000–$5,500 (Car MSRP $47,740)
Model S -- $13,000–$20,000 (Car MSRP $74,990)
Model X -- $13,000+ (Car MSRP $79,990)
It takes 7 years for an electric car to reach net-zero CO2. The life expectancy of the battery is 10 years (average). Only in the last 3 years do you start to reduce your carbon footprint, but then the batteries must be replaced and you lose all gains made.
And finally, my new friend, Michael, made some excellent points: I forgot to mention the amount of energy required to process the raw materials and the amount of energy used to haul these batteries to the U.S. sometimes back and forth a couple of times.
But by all means, get an electric car. Just don't sell me on how awesome you are for the environment. Or for human rights.”
You must harangue your representatives to CUT OFF all subsidies for industrial expansion of what is inaccurately called “green” technology until we remove the religious fervor for it and study the long-term implications of it all.
Enjoy the video. Take notes.
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When I pulled this quote I let the phone sleep. When I got back to it, the site scrolled away and I couldn’t find the quote for citation. So if you recognize your stuff here, let me know.
How EVs, windfarms and solar are hurting the environment.