Western societies are in a race to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Greenies claim technology currently exists to reach net zero, is affordable, and is not an economy wrecker. The elites want a first-generation green power grid relying on renewable wind turbines, solar panels, and power storage batteries to entirely phase out fossil fuel or nuclear power plants.
Also, replacing the internal combustion engine with electric motors powered by lithium batteries. The problem with renewable energy is it is intermittent and not scalable.
Wind turbines and solar panels have a short lives-cycle of twenty years or so. They can’t be retrofitted like fossil fuel or nuclear power plants, which can be extended up to fifty years. Electric vehicles must be scraped too. The term “replaceable” would be better suited than “renewables.” Once their short economic lives are exhausted, renewable energy and EVs must be disposed of into massive toxic dumps.
Wind turbine dump in West Texas
I have horrible news for the greenies; net-zero carbon isn’t achievable. All because Greenies failed to research whether or not there are sufficient base and rare earth metals and adequate time to mine and build out the technologies to accomplish the net-zero carbon 2050 target date.
A recent study by the Geological Survey of Finland found that implementation would take centuries at the current extraction rates, and there need to be more proven reserves of base metals and rare earth.
The study found the current estimated metal reserves are woefully deficient in almost every category. The table below has categories where deficits are yellow highlighted. So are the Greenies counting on mining the moon and asteroids to make up the scarcities?
Estimated Metal Reserves 2022
Source: BGR 2021, USGS, Friedrichs 2022
Below is the study’s table estimating the years to produce the required metals. For example, lithium would take almost ten millenniums to achieve. In addition, these scarce minerals must be mined, transported, and processed, relying exclusively on hydrocarbons, which would create more carbon emissions.
Estimated Annual Metal Production Rates
Source: BGR 2021, USGS, Friedrichs 2022
The above tables are from the “Assessment of Extra Capacity Required of Alternative Energy Electrical Power System to Completely Replace Fossil Fuels” study by Associate Professor Simon P. Michaux of Geometallurgy. The Powerpoint summary can be downloaded from the link below:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZVUl9UAWEydwhbBAqzm7vvSgV2kU0ki3/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102880436217134347591&rtpof=true&sd=true
The hard cold facts and math don’t support the Greenies’ rhetoric. Eliminating fossil fuels at an accelerating rate without replacing the equivalent of alternative energy would quickly collapse modern society. Energy is the economy. The net-zero movement is ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing’ but misery.
Could the NATO proxy war with Russia have an ulterior motive to collapse Russia to grab its vast natural resources to fulfill the Greenies’ net-zero fantasies?
Author
Bob Bishop is a retired CPA and a forensic investigator. He has written for the American Thinker, Gateway Pundit, Sonar21, and CorsiNation.
