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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (75904)	5/25/2010 12:09:41 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

"Because I've got news for you....the rest of the country ain't ready to do it and we can't afford it financially to import all our oil" I don't know why that's so hard to understand. It's at least a 20 year crash project..if it's even possible. UN warns rare metal shortage could derail clean tech boom Failure to improve recycling rates of metals such as lithium and gallium could leave them "essentially unavailable" for use in solar panels, electric cars and other clean technologies BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, 14 May 2010 The UN yesterday issued a stark warning that the adoption of low carbon technologies such as solar panels, electric cars and energy efficient lights could stall unless the recycling rates for "speciality metals" used by the electronics industry drastically increases. Metals such as lithium, neodymium and gallium all play crucial roles in the development of many clean technologies. But according to a new preliminary report from the UN's International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, recycling rates for these metals currently stand at around one per cent. It warns that currently recycling policies are failing to stop huge quantities of valuable metals being lost each year when the electronic equipment that also makes use of "speciality metals" is disposed of. The report, Metals Recycling Rates, argues that unless recycling rates for rare earth metals are significantly increased they could become " essentially unavailable for use in modern technology". The scarcity of metals such as lithium and gallium is already impacting a number of clean tech sectors by driving up component prices for manufacturers of photovoltaic solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and fuel cells. The report, the final version of which is due to be released later this year, also argues that improving recycling rates for more common metals such as iron, steel, copper, aluminium, lead and tin could save millions or even billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions because recycling metals is between two and ten times more energy efficient than extracting new metal. Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Program, said that " urgent action" was now required to ensure secure and sustainable supplies of rare metals that will play a "crucial role in the future health, penetration and competitiveness of a modern high-tech, resource-efficient Green Economy". "Boosting end-of-life recycling rates not only offers a path to enhancing those supplies and keeping metal prices down, but can also generate new kinds of employment while ensuring the longevity of the mines and the stocks found in nature," he added. businessgreen.com

To: tejek who wrote (75904)	5/25/2010 12:23:33 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

"The Obama administration is actively developing alternative energy sources." Chu said tonight that they have already allocated 80B in the stim bill. I'm not sure if that includes programs like Cash for Clunkers and Appliances. In addition, there is the promise of more if the climate bill gets passed. 80B sounds like a lot of money, especially to the Tea Party. Peakers would like it to be 800B. I'll bet we haven't spent 8B since Carter left office, and maybe not even then.

To: tejek who wrote (75904)	5/25/2010 11:36:33 AM
From: koan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

>>Simple logic, it seems to me, says that we should never do anything that can cause this much damage, if we cannot acceptably mitigate the damage we know sooner or later will happen. Are you prepared to stop using all fossil fuels...stop visiting your family in OR, never use any vehicle, only heat your house with solar, etc? Are you ready to do that?>> That is pure hyperbole. The DEEP water wells in the gulf only contribute a small fraction of the world's oil supply. And it can only be considered in relation to the world supply. that oil does not just go to the US, but into the world oil market. Did you think it goes to the US only? And we could easily replace that oil anyway by developing coal bed methane that is much much safer.