Electric La-La Land — Handing China the Metals Card; US Faces Soaring Need for Critical Minerals Dominated by China, IEA Says

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Electric La-La Land — Handing China the Metals Card:

A new report sounds the alarm on the mismatch between policies forcing an energy transition and the availability of the critical minerals that would make it feasible.

While Joe Biden was out for a spin in Ford’s new electric F-150 earlier this month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) was sounding the alarm on the mismatch between policies forcing an energy transition and the availability of the critical minerals that would make it feasible.

The IEA’s report, “The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions,” presents a sobering account of the geopolitical and environmental risks arising out of this mismatch, undercutting the credibility of wind, solar, and battery storage in turn. These technologies, often hailed as clean and abundant, are in some ways more resource-intensive than the electricity sources and vehicle types they would replace.

Minerals such as lithium, cobalt, zinc, manganese, copper, nickel, and the rare-earth elements, led by neodymium, are essential to the wind–solar–battery triumvirate with which the Biden administration wants to anchor our energy mix. The IEA, however, sees a scramble for these minerals on the horizon. --->READ MORE HERE

US faces soaring need for critical minerals dominated by China, IEA says:

Global demand for critical minerals is set to spike sharply to support more clean energy, and the United States and other countries must grapple with stabilizing a supply that is currently dominated by China, the International Energy Agency says.

The world’s appetite for critical minerals for clean energy could expand by as much as six times by 2040 as governments strive to reach net-zero emissions by midcentury, the IEA said in a new report Wednesday. In a scenario where governments meet the Paris climate agreement’s less ambitious target to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius, demand for those minerals for clean energy technologies would quadruple by 2040.

Critical minerals, which include lithium, copper, cobalt, and rare earth elements, are used in everything from military equipment to cellphone batteries. Clean energy technologies, such as electric vehicles, battery storage, solar panels, and wind turbines, are particularly mineral-intensive.

For example, a typical electric car requires six times as many minerals as a gas-powered car, the IEA notes. The report Wednesday is the most comprehensive look to date at the pressure significantly ramping up clean energy to meet the aggressive climate goals set by the U.S., the European Union, and other countries would put on the demand for these materials. --->READ MORE HERE

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