The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
1–10 of 74 posts
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#2isn't that the quest of every galaxy wars movie...
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#3That’s the worst part of the AI race and “clean” electric cars. Behind the scenes the destruction they cause is more than you can imagine.
We think electric cars and GPUs are pushing us ahead. But in reality we are driving the wedge in deeper.
I’m afraid where we end up is like James Hansen said about fossil fuels, but relevant in general, with a "different, practically uninhabitable planet" by triggering a "low-end runaway greenhouse effect."
The only way to actually stop the destruction is if we slow down mining and learn to do more with what we have already mined. To make what we already consumed reusable and stop mining altogether if possible. For fossil fuels, and the rare earth minerals destroying fresh water and food supplies and air quality.
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#4If you’ve never seen this you really should to understand how bad this can go.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150402-the-worst-place-...
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#5That’s the worst part of the AI race and “clean” electric cars. Behind the scenes the destruction they cause is more than you can imagine. We think electric cars and GPUs are pushing us ahead. But in reality we are driving the wedge in deeper. I’m afraid where we end up is like James Hansen said about fossil fuels, but relevant in general, with a "different, practically uninhabitable planet" by triggering a "low-end…
EVs, while undeniably more efficient, seem very good at abstracting the costs away from the end user. Pair this with autonomy that reduces friction but has its own associated costs and I'm afraid that the increase in use will eclipse the gains in efficiency, leading to a Jevon's Paradox where the overall consumption increases.
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#6That’s the worst part of the AI race and “clean” electric cars. Behind the scenes the destruction they cause is more than you can imagine. We think electric cars and GPUs are pushing us ahead. But in reality we are driving the wedge in deeper. I’m afraid where we end up is like James Hansen said about fossil fuels, but relevant in general, with a "different, practically uninhabitable planet" by triggering a "low-end…
Is this satire? With the username, I’m unsure. I don’t know why anyone would mention GPUs and AI in the same context as electric vehicles.
Mining isn’t a huge source of greenhouse emissions. It’s not good for the local environment, but it’s necessary. Recycling and reuse is also a grand idea, you’re right about that. Except for plastics, which never made sense.
Electric cars are unequivocally a good thing. Every electric car takes a fossil fuel guzzling car off the road. Once a family has an electric car they tend to use it whenever possible, making the effect even more pronounced. Some people float the ridiculous argument that they emit more greenhouse gases in manufacturing and mining than they save over their lifetime. Firstly, gasoline cars also cost energy to manufacture and gasoline also takes energy to extract and refine and transport. Secondly, electric cars break even within the first few years of use. Even in todays world where the electric grid still has a lot of fossil fuel generation.
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#7And the wars haven't started yet. Soon though.
Driving your electric car straight to hell on a road paved with feelings.
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#8And the wars haven't started yet. Soon though. Driving your electric car straight to hell on a road paved with feelings.
If only we knew how to build things so you didn't need a 2000kg metal box to go buy a packet of crisps.
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#9If you’ve never seen this you really should to understand how bad this can go. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150402-the-worst-place-...
I've been to some of these 'toxic lakes'.
Usually they consist of a few things in large quantities that are easy to neutralize - eg. sulphuric or nitric acid. And thats mixed in with small amounts of something that is natural yet toxic - eg. Mercury, lead, arsenic, etc.
The whole lot is typically in the form of a slurry with solids and lots of water.
It has to be kept wet, or the toxic solids will turn into dust and blow everywhere. It can't be allowed to get too wet, or it will overflow the containment pond.
As far as I can see, there is no real solution - while the acids can be neutralized, the heavy metals can't be locked back into solid rock form - at least not at the scale of these ponds. I suspect the best thing to do (apart from not mining at all) is to just make ponds as big as possible and let them settle for as many decades as possible, and eventually they'll turn back into mudstone-like rock.
Re: The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
#10That’s the worst part of the AI race and “clean” electric cars. Behind the scenes the destruction they cause is more than you can imagine. We think electric cars and GPUs are pushing us ahead. But in reality we are driving the wedge in deeper. I’m afraid where we end up is like James Hansen said about fossil fuels, but relevant in general, with a "different, practically uninhabitable planet" by triggering a "low-end…
Electric cars are helping, but maybe not as much one can be lead to believe. The biggest danger about them is possibly that people may believe they are a big step forward. They are an important but rather small step forward.
Electric cars will reduce demand for gasoline. Some people say this won't affect how much oil is pumped out of the ground, because we still need the other fractions.
That's not exactly the case though - gasoline is effectively now subsidizing the heavier fractions. When that changes, heavier fractions will also be more expensive.
How that will affect demand for crude, I'm not equipped to tell.
The most interesting things about electric cars may be if they transform how our grid works, from baseload to (much more) spot-market.