Despite being the world’s largest exporter of rare earth metals, China just released its first-ever report on the rare earth mining industry about a week ago. Titled, “Situation and Policies of China’s Rare Earth Industry,” the white paper recognizes the widespread pollution caused by excessive and careless mining. The Chinese government also acknowledges the prevalence [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Rare Earths’
China Analyzes Rare Earth Mining Practices, Resulting Damage
June 28th, 2012 
Chris DeArmond 
Posted in Business, China, Clean Technology, Conservation, Green Economy, Policy, Sustainability 
Tags: Business, Chris DeArmond, Pollution, Rare Earths, Waste 
No Comments »Electric Car Prototype Doesn’t Use Any Rare Earth Materials
August 1st, 2011 Justin Manger With China producing 97% of all rare earths that are used globally, prices for these materials have sky-rocketed in recent years. This is partly due to China’s monopoly on production as well as the fact that demand for rare earths is increasing as we make more electric vehicles and other green technology that rely on [...]
From Renewable Fuels to Sustainable Ones
July 31st, 2011 Eric Wilson The conflating of “renewable” with “sustainable” is not a perfect pairing. Consider the definition of sustainable, “of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.” While renewable fuels offer the possibility of renewed sources of energy, they do not automatically represent [...]
The 2010 Elections and US Energy Policy: Finding Common Ground
November 6th, 2010 Eric Wilson After the self described “shellacking” that President Obama and the Democratic party undertook, what are the implications for the United States’ energy policy? As reported on National Public Radio, the President stated that he foresees working with the Republicans to make “modest forward movement on energy policy.” Throughout the previous decade, the Republicans were the [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Featured Posts, Green Economy, Op-Ed, Policy, President Obama Tags: Congress, Energy, Green Jobs, Jobs, Rare Earths, Washington DC No Comments »“Rare Earths” and China
November 1st, 2010 Justin Manger After a “wake-up call” from China, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently joined Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara in calling for the world to develop new sources of the “rare earth” minerals that are used in production of everything from missiles and computers to hybrid cars and MRI machines. Many of the green and clean [...]
Posted in Business, China, Clean Technology, Featured Posts, Green Economy, Green Products, Japan, Justin Manger, Policy Tags: Battery, Green Product, Green Technology, Rare Earths No Comments »Japan Starts Mining Old Electronics
October 20th, 2010 Eric Wilson Last year while visiting a local landfill, the tour guide hypothesized that a time would come when humankind would have to mine the landfill in order to recover valuable resources. While this is currently taking place to some extent with methane extraction, the implication was that there were products in the landfill that could be [...]
Posted in China, Eric Wilson, Japan, Recylcing Tags: Cradle to Cradle, Landfill, Rare Earths No Comments »The Coming Trouble With Clean Energy: Rare Earth Elements
December 27th, 2009 Eric Wilson Yesterday’s post about fake and real Christmas trees and menorahs developed out of several conversations during the holidays, but was precipitated by an article in The New York Times about the use of so-called rare earth elements in the manufacture of clean energy components. Cradle to cradle design would suggest that all materials used in [...]
