Decline of Rare Earth Metals Used In Clean Tech Might Compromise Future Innovations
Rare earth metals are a key component in the clean technologies of today, with elements like neodymium, lanthanum, dysprosium essential to the creation of hybrid and full-electric vehicles produced by Toyota in the Prius line of vehicles and their competitors in the green car market, as well as for use in generators in wind and tidal turbines. But as the production of clean technology relies upon the use of these rare metals that we’re found little use for in the past, there’s a chance that the earth’s supply might be depleted before there is ample opportunity to take green technology to an all new level, far beyond where we are today.
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The majority of the world’s rare-earth metals come out of China, and as they are beginning to make more use of these resources, a decreased supply is being exported to the rest of the world which has some vehicle manufacturers, like Toyota, that relies on these metals for use in the manufacturing process of the Prius, which in its engine uses 1 kg of neodymium and 10 kg of lanthanum for the battery worried about how that will effect their ability to produce more eco-friendly electric and hybrid vehicles.
It’s estimated that over the next few years as the use of these rare metals increase to develop more clean tech items, more than 40,000 tons of supply will be used. In order to meet this demand both California and locations in Canada are looking into developing more mining sites for these rare-earth metals so the progress being made in the development of green technologies isn’t put on hold. With a little bit of creative thinking, in the future, clean tech might also move away from metals to use something else to make green vehicles and other energy sources operate.
Via: Yahoo News
Image Via: Flikr User Handolio with a Creative Commons License
Honestly, you people should really learn the basics! It’s so easy to AVOID using rare earths this kind of story is totally redundant! It only serves to benefit commodity traders looking to boost the price of the rare earth stocks they have a position in.
Simply don’t use BLDC motors that use permanent magnets!!! AC Induction motors (As used in the Tesla Roadster) don’t use anything more exotic than steel, aluminium and copper, all of which are routinely recycled. That’s one of the main reasons why over 70% of electric motors used around the world are induction motors!!!
Think you are a little late with the post - this scare has been discredited on most other sites in the last 10 days.
russ, was it this scare or the lithium shortage scare? I haven’t seen where this one has been debunked yet.
The title of Rare earth element
denotes its origin not its scarcity
these eliment are among the most common chemicals and minerals around. buy a dictionary
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Rare earth ore
As defined by IUPAC, rare earth elements or rare earth metals are a collection of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, namely scandium, yttrium, and the fifteen lanthanoids.[1] Scandium and yttrium are considered rare earths since they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanoids and exhibit similar chemical properties.
The term “rare earth” arises from the minerals from which they were first isolated, which were uncommon oxide-type minerals (earths) found in Gadolinite extracted from one mine in the village of Ytterby, Sweden. However, with the exception of the highly-unstable promethium, rare earth elements are found in relatively high concentrations in the earth’s crust, with cerium being the 25th most abundant element in the earth’s crust at 68 parts per million.
Both have come up and both have been debunked. The end of a cheap Chinese supply of rare earth minerals means existing mines open again including in the US with much expansion available.
Okay, so you want to know how this works?
The people that speculate on oil and gas will need something new to speculate on since this is their shiny new toy, rare earth metals.
So if they do not stir the FUD - how will they drive up the price of these raw materials.
The USA was the #1 producer of these materials, and the existing mines are slated to come back online very soon…
Sorry to be pedant but: nice second paragraph/sentence! Made me laugh!