Does the energy transition need a “Circular 5”? In the late 1940s the US Atomic Energy Commission fretted that it could not procure enough uranium on the private market to meet the requirements of its nuclear weapons production programmes.
So beginning in April 1948, the Atomic Energy Commission began issuing public “circulars” that offered a minimum guaranteed price for uranium and a 10-year purchase contract, with bonus payments for significant uranium finds in the US. You cannot get to the energy transition without copper and other essential metals. Cobalt, excavated by all those child miners for our EVs and phones, can be substituted, though at a cost in performance and usable life. Lithium andcopper
So now the developed world and its green transitions are all hat and no cattle . You may have noticed that the COP 26 “pledges” included a lot of commitments to EVs, solar panel installation, charging stations and wind turbines, but nothing whatsoever about producing new metals to build them.
Source: Energy Industry News (energyindustrynews.net)
Materials needed will constrain renewables growth. World needs to come to terms with ride share and public transport people in cities should not have their own private EVs