Materials needed
to make wind turbines
and solar panels,
rely on mining and
transportation
equipment.
The equipment is made
with parts that require
fossil fuels, and is
powered by fuels
manufactured
from crude oil.
An electric-car
battery weighs
about
1,000 pounds --
and making one
requires
digging up,
moving and
processing
more 500,000
pounds of
raw materials
somewhere on
the planet.
Mining done with
far from ideal
labor conditions,
and usually loose
environmental
regulations,
for the raw materials
required for solar and
wind renewable energy.
“Green” goals require
a massive worldwide
increase in mining for
lithium, cobalt, copper,
iron, aluminum, and other
raw materials, such as:
Sixteen components
needed to build
wind turbines are:
Aggregates and
Crushed Stone
(for concrete),
Bauxite
(for aluminum),
Clay and Shale
(for cement),
Coal, Cobalt
(for magnets),
Copper
(for wiring),
Gypsum
(for cement),
Iron ore
(for steel),
Limestone,
Molybdenum
(for alloy in steel),
Rare Earths
(for magnets & batteries),
Sand and Gravel
(for cement & concrete),
Zinc
(for galvanizing steel).
Seventeen components
needed to build
solar panels are:
Arsenic
( for gallium-arsenide
semiconductor chips ),
Bauxite
(for aluminum),
Boron Minerals, Cadmium
(for thin film solar cells),
Coal
( the by-product coke
is used to make steel ),
Copper
( for the wiring &
thin film solar cells ),
Gallium
(for solar cells),
Indium
(for solar cells),
Iron ore
(for steel),
Molybdenum
(for photovoltaic cells),
Lead
(for batteries),
Phosphate rock
(for phosphorous),
Selenium
(for solar cells),
Silica
(for solar cells),
Silver
(for solar cells),
Tellurium
(for solar cells), and
Titanium dioxide
(for solar panels).
These materials
are mined throughout
the world, including
Algeria, Arabia, Argentina,
Armenia, Australia, Belgium,
Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
China, Congo (Kinshasa), Cuba,
Egypt, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Guinea, Guyana, India,
Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy,
Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico,
Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique,
New Caledonia, Oman, Pakistan,
Papua New Guinea, Peru,
Philippines, Poland,
Republic of Korea, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone,
Slovakia, South Africa, Spain,
Suriname, Sweden, Thailand,
Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom,
United States, Uzbekistan,
Venezuela, Vietnam,
Western Sahara, and Zambia.
The useful life
of wind turbines
is generally from
15 to 25 years.
Then you have scrap
covering a lot of land,
unless there is a
funded plan for
decommissioning.
Mining projects,
oil production sites,
and nuclear generation
sites, are all required
to provide a plan for
decommissioning
and restoration of the
site.
But not wind and
solar farms --
at least not available
for public review !
“Clean electricity”
requires extremely
dirty mining,
for the materials
needed for millions
of wind turbines and
solar panels, and
their later disposal.