While the effort to reduce America's dependence upon foreign oil seems laudable enough, left unsaid is the fact that the move to "alternative energy" simply trades one dependency for another.
We presently import 100% of gallium and indium from Ukraine and China, and around 90% of germanium and tellrium from central Africa. SO? So, these are the primary components of solar panels, along with silicon.
We import 100% of vanadium and cerium from South Africa and China, and nearly 80% of zinc from Chile. These are the primary components of batteries required to store energy derived from solar and wind power sources, and are also used in the battery packs integral to hybrid vehicles.
China has announced that it plans to curtail indium exports by 30% in the next couple of years, and cease export altogether after that time.
Wind power turbines depend upon neodymium magnets. Those curly little cfl bulbs require cerium, lanthanum, europium, terbium and yttrium. All imported.
We have supplies of these and other rare-earth minerals, but we don't mine them. After all, environmeddlists hate mines. They're all about "saving the planet" and "green energy" - but they conveniently choose to ignore what it takes to make that happen.
They drive their little Prius cars around, proud to display their "concern" for the planet - but of course they conveniently ignore the fact that the nickel that goes into the huge battery packs is mined from a Canadian biological wasteland, that 100% of the manganese used in the battery packs is imported from China, and that 80% of the cobalt used in the packs is imported from China, Russia, and Norway.
They can't believe the actual fact that building and driving a Hummer is actually far more "earth-friendly" than their precious Prius.
Yet they believe that they somehow have the moral high ground, and therefore the right to set policy for the rest of us.
