Rare Earth Minerals For Green Tech Put U.S. In Foreign Hands?

by ~ The Rebel ~ Posted 2011/10/12 17:30:32

Related Topics: China, School, Professor, Policies, Politician, Foreign, Store

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As the “green energy” movement continues, there is some indication that rare earth minerals necessary for the production of green technologies are going the route of controversy in the geopolitical sphere.

At a meeting of the U.S. Geological Society (USGS) attended by politicians and political policymakers of all sorts, Professor Roderick Eggert of the Colorado School of Mines sought to explain the extreme rarity of minerals needed for green technology. The consequence of pushing green technology is that the U.S. is subject to the exportation policies of countries such as China which have rich stores of rare earth metals.

The USGS uses the example of China’s exhibition of a stranglehold on neodymium, a substance used in wind generators, when it restricted export of the substance last year. The result was a much lower neodymium price in China that allowed the country to both export the rare earth mineral at a high price and produce more wind technology than other countries.

F'ing!A!Proud!2beAnAmerican... 2011/11/07 18:35:35 (edited)

Ok, one way we can still do "green energy", and not be dependant on other countries, is to re-legalize industrial hemp. It is one way to address several negative economic factors st one fell swoop. 1: its renewable, less time to harvest for paper products than trees, and makes a superior paper product, and papermills will not require major refitting to change over. 2: as a biomass fuel, its use won't be "taking away foodcrops", one complaint about using corn for biofuels. 3: regulated, taxed, legalized, will take power and financial gain away from gangs, reduced prison populations/overcrowding for marijuana offences, leaving room and budgets for real criminals. 4: Americans back to work, making real American products that could help get our economy going. 5: return to our founding fathers heritage, hemp was one of America's first cash crops. 6: if nothing else, try it for say, 5 years, if it doesn't work, at least we gave it a try, instead of standing around wringing hands, crying woe is us.

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~ The R... to F'ing!A... 2011/11/08 00:08:17

Is it true that industrial hemp can't be controlled and once it gets started it goes crazy and spreads fast?

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F'ing!A... to ~ The R... 2011/11/08 01:49:28 (edited)

I'm not sure about that, I do know as late as 1969, 4 states still grew it, and its found in the wild, we called it ditchweed, can't be told apart from marijuana, just very low thc levels. Can be made into fabric, fuels, medicines, very long list of uses. Big pharmacological companies have most to lose over legalization.

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~ The R... to F'ing!A... 2011/11/08 01:58:32

I know about the uses of it. But, from what I understood it would spread unless you had some way to keep it under control and that's why they destroyed so much of it in the past!

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F'ing!A... to ~ The R... 2011/11/08 02:46:08

Not that I've ever heard of, I believe we'd be overrun by now if that was true, I know it was mandatory to be grown at plantations early in our history, it had so many uses even then, you'd be penalized if you didn't grow it.

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~ The R... to F'ing!A... 2011/11/08 03:21:13

I just remember when I was little a university was growing a test plot and when it went to seed it ended up taking over other areas and they finally came in and burnt the areas off where it was. It by then covered quite an area.

Interesting articles:

http://www.votehemp.com/PR/02...

Hemp seed is a marvelous food source, packed with nutrients. At least one brand of commercial breakfast cereal contains ground hemp seed meal
http://www.moonslightmagic.co...

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F'ing!A... to ~ The R... 2011/11/08 05:01:18

+1
It's not a cure, but it might be a step in the right direction. There are pluses and minuses to doing it, but the plus side outweighs the minus side. Just taking the profit out of criminals hands, and their power, ie enough for me.

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keeper 2011/10/12 19:48:40

+1
Sounds like the perfect time for us to go into a trade war with China... Geeez do we have some idiots running this country!

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~ The Rebel ~ 2011/10/12 17:31:37

“Among the basics that need to be grasped to understand the current state of affairs is how rare these minerals and elements really are. Some are plentiful, but only found in rare places or are difficult to extract.

The USGS contends that the U.S. must either find ways to use less of these rare earth minerals or seek them in countries with fair trading policies.

http://www.personalliberty.co...

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