The summer of 2022 will go down as one of the most volatile and extreme in history. Temperatures exceeding an unheard of 40⁰C (104⁰F) in the UK (and they’ve been taking temperature readings for many centuries!). Rivers running dry in eastern Europe and China, not just escalating a drought, but also impacting crucial river transportation. One-third of Pakistan (over 100,000 square miles) is flooded and uninhabitable.

And together with the war in Ukraine upending energy (oil and natural gas) markets, nations are realizing that they must implement more renewable energy to lessen the dependence on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But there is a problem with producing more wind turbines, electric vehicles, and solar panels. They depend on compounds that are rare on Earth and may require some not very nice environmental tactics to get them from the ground and politics to keep their flow.

The problem resolves around compounds called rare earth elements (REEs), such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite, which are crucial for producing batteries and copper and aluminum for the electric grid. Government studies appear to show that the Earth probably has sufficient REEs accessible to enable a full transition to renewable energy. The issue is the inefficiency of their extraction, transport, and use. Can the mining and processing activities across the supply chains be expanded in an environmentally and socially acceptable means quickly enough to meet the timeline of moving to a renewable economy? Many REEs are found in Africa and there is already concern about the prospect of cheap or slave labor to mine for REEs, as well as the politics of a few nations or companies controlling this crucial supply, such as China. In addition, mining operations are very energy intensive, leading to the question of tradeoffs: causing increased greenhouse gas emissions to reduce them in the future.

The good news is that the US’s Inflation Reduction Act will likely spur demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy plants. There are incentives to build more solar and wind farms and manufacture more EV vehicles. What may be the laggard in moving toward a clean energy society is the supply chain, getting a reliable supply of REEs to manufacture the equipment. Currently, about 40% of the world’s lithium (needed for batteries and for solar panels) comes from China, a specific region that suffered a severe drought this summer, drying up most of that region’s rivers, reducing electricity production itself (to mine the lithium) and transport it appropriately. All contributed by climate change. In addition, it takes 2.2 tons of water to make a ton of lithium, a problem for the drought-stricken areas where lithium is produced, China, as well as portions of Latin America. While sufficient lithium is being produced to make the batteries for EVs to meet current demand, if the recent increase in demand for EVs continue, there may well be a shortage of EVs in the market by 2025-2030.

Another issue is nickel. Indonesia produces more nickel than any other nation. However, its nickel is of poor quality, requiring it to be double smelted before it can be used. And smelting is a major energy user. One can purchase better quality nickel and avoid the extra energy cost, but the best quality of nickel comes from … Russia.

CCES has the technical experts to provide you and your company and operations with facts about renewable and battery power, whether it can be beneficial to you and the costs and benefits. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@CCESworld.com.