Rare Earth Metals Are An Important Part Of Sustainable Development And Climate Change

The UN has estimated that the global population will grow by two billion people to

nine billion by 2050 and as more and more disadvantaged people leave their rural homes to try to find work in their countries' cities the urban populations will double.

Already China and India have several megacities, several of which have among the highest pollution rates in the world.

Global warming and climate change have focused attention on what is called sustainable development, generally defined as a balance between economic growth, human development and environmental protection.

Two of the booming economies of the last twenty years have been India and China and the two have several megacities, with some of the highest pollution rates in the world. None of them could realistically be called models of sustainable development. Much of the urban pollution is because of the concentration and increase in traffic and the emissions that come from petrol and diesel powered engines.

It is understandable that the Chinese and Indian governments resist pressure to contain their rates of growth given that they both still have huge populations of economically disadvantaged citizens and both argue that they should not be made to pay the price for a problem created by the developed world.

Nevertheless both have expressed their concern about the environment and their willingness to play their part in combating climate change wherever possible consistent with their economic aims.

This is where the connection between sustainable development, clean energy technology and rare earth metals is made.

One REM in particular, germanium, is an essential component of lithium batteries, used in many electronic gadgets and particularly for electric vehicles.

One of the main problems in developing electriv vehicles is that their batteries don't hold a charge long enough and the technology needs to improve dramatically so that batteries can store more energy before electric vehicles can provide a viable transport alternative.

One research team has been experimenting with a germanium sub-oxide and initial signs are that it may be possible to improve battery charging by up to three times by using electrodes made from germanium sub-oxide instead of the current graphite electrodes.

If the battery life of electric vehicles can be improved it could be argued that the megacities of Asia as well as those in the rest of the world could then consider switching transport to such vehicles with a benefit to the air quality in their cities and more widely to the planet without sacrificing their efforts to improve the living standards of their populations.

Germanium is also used in wafers for solar cells, the production of optical fibre, night vision devices, thermal imaging cameras and in solar panels. Like all rare earth metals it has to be extracted from other ores.

It is clear that progress on sustainable development and clean technologies is increasingly going to depend on developing the technology of extraction and increasing the supply.

While rare earth metals can be found in many places in the world, the bulk of the supply and processing, up to 98%, is currently in China, which has recently been reported to the World Trade Organisation by the USA, Japan and the EU for limiting its exports of them.

This makes a current meeting between the US, EU and Japan in Tokyo to discuss developing alternatives to and re-use of rare earths, particularly significant.

Copyright (c) 2012 Alison Withers

by: Alison Withers

POST COMMENT

How To Store And Install Winter Tires? Where To Stay And What To See In Sharm El Sheikh Breast Enhancement To What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages? An Inside Look At Cellulite And Cellulite Treatments Petra Nights Tours - Explore The Greatness Of Beauty Mystery And History Online With Regard To 50 Percent The Price Tag On Low-cost Cycling Jerseys And Up -- Sports -- Baseb A Sintering Furnace Is Used For Sintering And Curing Applications Spring Specials Spa And Beauty Treatments From La Spa Therapie Malahide Be Vegetarian And Go Green Buyers Guide For Buying Quality And Cheap Used Hyundai Cars In Scottsdale How To Find The Best Arlington Financial Services And Advisors Are You In Need Of A Reliable Huddersfield Removals Service? Just Contact Pollards Moving And Storag Cutting Tools - Give Better And Productive Cutting Results