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Supplies of Rare Earth Elements Exhausted By 2017
tomhudson writes "While we bemoan the current oil crisis, I ran across an editorial that led me to research a more immediate threat. Ramped-up production of flat-panel displays means the material to make them will be 'extinct' by 2017. This goes for other electronics as well. Quoting: 'The element gallium is in very short supply and the world may well run out of it in just a few years. Indium is threatened too, says Armin Reller, a materials chemist at Germany's University of Augsburg. He estimates that our planet's stock of indium will last no more than another decade. All the hafnium will be gone by 2017 also, and another twenty years will see the extinction of zinc. Even copper is an endangered item, since worldwide demand for it is likely to exceed available supplies by the end of the present century.' More links at the journal entry."
First, the market will be helpless if there really is no alternative.
And in the history of mankind this has happened: NEVER!
And second, when there is an alternative, it may be something so drastically different than our current standard of living
And in the history of mankind this has happened: NEVER! As a race, the only time we go backwards is because of politics, not economics.
while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
sadly, most investors today seems more interested in rocket like growth then sustainable business models.
as in, get as much money for as little effort as possible, and then run for the hills while the whole system collapse behind you.
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
Um, carbon fiber is used quite a bit in racing sailboats. Carbon fiber masts and spinnaker poles are very common these days. There are growing numbers of racing boats with carbon fiber hulls. I think this is a well understood issue, and carbon is quite safe in salt water. Most boat owners use a bottom paint, whose purpose is primarily to retard growth on the bottom. More and more boats are going naked on the bottom though, in lieu of a toxic bottom paint. Me, I still use VC-17 with a bag of pure copper dust mixed in.
Larry