A growing number of important green technologies depend on rare earth metals and other scarce elements. Everything from the batteries in electric cars to solar panels to advanced wind turbines rely on exotic metals that come from only a few places around the world. Some valuable technologies are not being exploited to their fullest extent due to the scarcity of raw materials.
We think of gold and silver as the metals of highest value, but the price of rare earth metals like terbium, europium, and neodymium has gone up precipitously in recent years as demand for their use has increased in compact fluorescent bulbs, wind turbines, electric engines, and even in the earbuds for our phones.
China controls most of the world’s rare earth supply, but people are investigating some 450 potential rare earth mining sites around the world. Despite the high cost of rare earths, recycling them is not very common. Currently, only about 10% of these materials are recovered. Recovery processes are complicated because these metals are typically incorporated in tiny amounts in complex devices. Extracting them economically is not so easy.
The Critical Materials Institute, located at the Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, was created last year meet the challenges associated with rare earth element scarcity and the demand for these materials in emerging clean energy technologies. Ongoing research is exploring rare earth substitutes and more efficient reclamation methods.
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Web Links
A Scarcity of Rare Metals Is Hindering Green Technologies
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/a_scarcity_of_rare_metals_is_hindering_green_technologies/2711/
Photo, taken on February 10, 2011, courtesy of USFWS Mountain Prairie via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.