Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do not really understand why we are obsessed with energy independence. It only matters if we were to ban exports which is an absurd thing to do.
Soft power. “European countries are estimated to have spent additional 792 billion euros in the last year just on the status quo system to protect consumers from the effects of the energy crisis introduced by the Russian invasion into Ukraine” Honestly I think building solar and wind farms in Europe would do more for America’s military power than more tanks.
Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
161–170 of 311 posts
Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do not really understand why we are obsessed with energy independence. It only matters if we were to ban exports which is an absurd thing to do.
This is because you’ve been living a very comfortable life with no real foreign threats thanks to US hegemony and the globalization it allowed. Due to other countries growing and wanting to have a say, this can’t be expected to continue going forward and so we have to think about things from a strategic perspective and not from a purely economic one.
If it is about getting low price energy, then integration with the global system is unavoidable, no matter how many domestic export bans you enact, etc. - you will be impacted by global energy prices.
Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn’t energy independence more about other countries exports? From the perspective of Germany, their reliance on Russian oil caused a high spike in cost of energy during the current Ukraine invasion. For the US, we don’t really want to be at the whim of OPEC. The 1973 Oil Crisis is a historical example of OPEC taking a religious and political stance and using their oil exports to coerce the US against Israel. Another…
Germany's plight is entirely owed to their own political malfeasance in shutting down their nuclear power plants. With them, they would have managed just fine without Russian oil and natural gas.
Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strong US domestic energy production disempowers petro-state dictatorships such as Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia etc. whose interests and values are not aligned with ours.
Burning and bombing their countries down to the ground works pretty well too.
Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do not really understand why we are obsessed with energy independence. It only matters if we were to ban exports which is an absurd thing to do.
Why would you want to be dependent on other countries if you didn’t have to be?
Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Great news for climate change.
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It chaps endlessly that thousands of climate researchers spend decades of their live researching the problem, often going to inhospitable places for months at a time to collect data. Papers are written, conferences are held, and conservative summaries produced. Yet some dingleberry paid for by the Koch brothers (having done no research and having written no papers) will say, "Nuh uh, their predictions are wrong again, they are being paid by Soros" or some other BS, and a large portion of the pubic believes them over the tens of thousands of man-years of research.
EDIT: to make this more substantive, potholer54 is a youtuber who mostly debunks climate change denier claims. Why should you listen to him? In his own words, "Don't, you can do it yourself by reading primary sources." Unlike people like Anthony Watt (popular and influential climate denier) who spout claims and provide no sources, potholer provides links to all of his sources. He is a sober person, not a bomb-thrower. Not that it matters, but he has a degree in geology and has spent his life as a science reporter. He makes no money off his channel and spends the time researching because climate change denial is a severe problem.
Here is a good starter video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugwqXKHLrGk
Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
What? These are denominated in tons, not dollars.
The point is that reserves are only economically viable at a given price. At $0 there are 0 reserves because no one is willing to give you lithium. At $1 mil per kg, there is basically infinite reverses because you can do things like dig up the entire earth's crust and filter all the lithium out of it.
Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#168Looks like existing worldwide reserves are 26M tons [0], so this is a big find. [0] https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2023/mcs2023-lithium.pd...
I think that true global reserves are much higher than what we know now. Before, Lithium was important, but not nearly in the quantities needed for EV's. Now that EV's have picked up, more people will be looking for Lithium, and that will make all the difference.
There are plenty of known deposits of unknown size and quality. They are just by definition not included in the reserve. As demand grows those will be explored and included in the total count.
Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#169Re: Thailand discovers nearly 15M tonnes of lithium
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn’t energy independence more about other countries exports? From the perspective of Germany, their reliance on Russian oil caused a high spike in cost of energy during the current Ukraine invasion. For the US, we don’t really want to be at the whim of OPEC. The 1973 Oil Crisis is a historical example of OPEC taking a religious and political stance and using their oil exports to coerce the US against Israel. Another…
No, it's about what the US exports - because the US produces more oil than it needs domestically. We will always be at the 'whim of OPEC' as long as we are in a market-based system because OPECs actions impact global oil supplies.
In the 70's when the US was NOT producing enough.
Then OPEC had a 'monopoly' or at least an outsized influence. A large enough % of the market that they could dominate the price.
Right now we are NOT at the 'whim' because we can produce more if we need it. IF we stopped, then we would return to being at their 'whim'.
Solar, Wind, anything, is all very important for National Security. See Germany.