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Tuesday's Energy Absurdity: The Rapacious Copper Needs of Renewable Energy, Explained

David Blackmon
May 28, 2024

Writing his X account, X user John Lee Pettimore summarizes the findings in a new study published by the International Energy Forum on copper needs for the energy transition:


A normal Honda Accord needs about 40 pounds of copper. The same battery electric Accord needs 200 pounds.

Onshore wind turbines require about 10 tons of copper, and offshore approx. 20 tons.

The world will need to mine 115% more copper than has been mined in all human history just to meet “business as usual.”

This would meet our current copper needs and support the developing world without considering the green energy transition.

Six new large mines need to come online every year by 2050 to meet global copper demand, but the problem is it takes about 20 years between discovering a new copper mineral deposit and getting a permit to build a mine.

None of this takes into consideration the upgrades to the electrical infrastructure needed to "electrify the world by 2050.”

In short electrifying the world by 2050 is a politician’s pipe dream that will never happen.

[End]

He’s right.

https://blackmon.substack.com/p/tuesdays-energy-absurdity-the-rapacious?publication_id=712558&post_id=145057661&isFreemail=true&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true