Climate Lynx

In November 2016, Hillary Clinton was the solar and wind power champion. She led in the polls to be the next president of the United States. The Canadian-based copper company, Highland Copper, had an office in Wakefield on US 2. Back then, if we listened to the press reports, we might have felt a new copper mine would open anytime. And then? Before I address the “And then,” let’s examine copper’s role in modern electrified life. When you speak about nearly anything that uses or produces electricity, you will find copper and a lot of it. For example, for each Mega Watt of potential wind power from a wind turbine, the generator needs 3.6 tonnes of copper.   When comparing a gas car to an electric vehicle, a gas-powered car needs 18 to 55 lbs of copper, a hybrid needs 85 to 110 lbs, and a fully electric vehicle 165 to 185 pounds. Recently, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), we started the largest mineral rush ever. Its provisions to spur clean energy growth, ac...

Please pay special attention to the following essay:   “Mining and climate change are two hot topics that often get mixed up in heated debates. Some people think that mining is bad for the environment and contributes to global warming, while others argue that mining is essential for green technologies and decarbonization. Who is right? Well, it depends on how you look at it. On one hand, mining does have a lot of negative impacts on the environment, such as land clearing, water pollution, ecosystem degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions. According to some estimates, mining is responsible for 4 to 7 percent of global emissions, and most of that comes from coal mining. Coal is not only used for electricity generation, but also for steel production, which is another major source of emissions. If we want to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C, we need to reduce coal consumption by 80 percent by 2050. On the other hand, mining also provides the raw materials for green technologi...

You have probably heard this, “Sure, renewable energy is the least expensive way to produce electricity, but what do you do when the sun doesn’t shine, or the wind isn’t blowing?” The reply was, “The wind is always blowing somewhere, and the sun is shining somewhere.” So, to make our grid function, we need to interconnect regions with massive solar and wind resources through high-voltage direct current lines (HVDC) to energy users. In effect, sunny and windy areas would become our power plants. But even with an ambitious and successful HVDC interlocked grid, we would need some natural gas-fired quick-start power stations to cover the intermittent loss of solar or wind. Plus, putting up new HVDC lines takes decades. If only scientists could create an inexpensive means of storing energy. This is considered the best fix. When operating, wind and solar produce large amounts of electrical energy, but what do you do with the excess? Engineers have built mechanical devices that lift weigh...

The National Academy of Science* tells us the most rapid path to decarbonization is to power the grid with wind, solar, nuclear, or other non-fossil fuel-burning generation. I could justify this column to this end, but I am writing about chips (those without salsa) because it is an interesting diversion. Chips, sometimes called semiconductor wafers or miniature electronic switches are now in nearly everything electronic. They are in satellite dishes, cars, computers, mobile phones, medical equipment, and high-tech military equipment. The USA became keenly aware of our unacceptable chip situation during COVID when the supply chain failed and our industries, such as our vehicle manufacturers, had to shut down their assembly lines. We simply did not have enough domestic capacity. Our once dominant semi-conductor industry now commands only 12% of the world’s production. The big producers are on the other side of the Pacific in South Korea, China, or located on the island of science big...

Sometimes learning opportunities fall from the sky like, let’s say, Letters to the Editor. What did you think about an LTE titled “Climate Change: Bogus Science” printed two weeks ago?   Did you say, “I don’t care?” Or, did you say to yourself, “Oh, that must be true; that is what I have always believed.” Or, perhaps, you said, “That fellow Greyson Morrow has written over 250 well-referenced columns on climate science. This is interesting; I wonder if he is right.” I hope you said, “To the best of my ability, I will figure this out.”   This option is the best. While it is not easy, and there is no guarantee that you will find the elusive truth, it is the honorable path. Sometimes, it is possible to weed out the ridiculous right off the bat. For example, when I flew helicopters during preflight and often during the flight, I had to compute torque available, maximum payload, the center of gravity, wind correction, and range. But, of course, computational mistakes happen, so ...