Raw materials for the energy transition

The Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) Seminar - Dr Dan Smith, University of Leicester, will give a seminar on "Raw materials for the energy transition"

The Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) Seminar - Dr Dan Smith, University of Leicester, will give a seminar on "Raw materials for the energy transition"

The SEG Student Chapter are pleased to make this seminar available to a wider audience.

Abstract: In summer 2019, the UK Government made a legal commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas output to “net zero carbon” by 2050. Opposition parties in the UK Parliament have suggested that they will campaign for an even earlier data for net zero. The Extinction Rebellion group want the UK to reach this target by 2025.

Decarbonising the UK will require enormous change in our energy infrastructure, our commercial and private transport, and our domestic energy use. The UK has an impending energy transition that the Committee on Climate Change have determined to be feasible, but by any reasonable measure reflects an ambitious and remarkable series of changes. To meet net zero by 2050, the UK will need to:  switch to an energy mix that is dominated by renewable electricity, rather than gas; replace the petrol- and diesel-powered vehicle fleet with a mix of electric- and hydrogen-powered vehicles; invest heavily in resource and energy efficiency; ramp up carbon capture and storage schemes (active and passive) to bridge the gap in energy supply and offset necessarily carbon emitting industries; encourage a switch to low meat and dairy diets.

The transition to an energy mix dominated by renewables has a significant resources footprint. An economy based around renewable power consumes less fossil fuels, but significantly more metals – steel, aluminium and copper consumption will all increase, and we will consume greater quantity and abundance of the exotic metals that underpin renewable energy technologies. To replace the world’s cars with electric equivalents, annual production would have to increase for neodymium and dysprosium by 70%, copper output would need to more than double and cobalt output would need to increase at least three and a half times for the entire period from now until 2050 to satisfy the demand.

In this talk, I will attempt to put into context what these changes mean for resource supply in the coming decades, and how the mining industry might meet the changing demands.