Peggy -
You ask:
/I wondered if any of you know of a way to keep magnet production
from producing enormous toxin byproducts. Turns out magnets are
needed for large wind turbines that Britain is building, and China
makes the magnets cause has the metals for doing so. But result is
huge pollution.
I am trying to find if there is any knowledge about way to make the
magnets without it being so toxic in effect?
/
I think the problem is fundamentally the same problem we always face
with our globalism. We don't (can't?) know the consequences of our
actions/desires/market-demands and we often don't want to. Wind
turbines needn't necessarily use as many or as strong of magnets as they
do, but would most likely suffer in efficiency/production. There are
alternative magnet technologies to those that require neodymium, but
probably at one kind of cost or another. There are surely less toxic
methods for mining/extraction of neodymium than the ones being used in
Mongolia... etc. etc....
But our rush to specific goals (in this case, "green" power) creates
demands for things we might not really want. We not only export our
pollution, we export our guilt.
It is all connected, and once again, we conspire with ourselves to avoid
those connections. I think it is almost axiomatic that the answer to
your question is "YES!, there are always ways to reduce toxic
byproducts", but the real question is "how much MORE are we willing to
pay for how much reduction?" If we were willing to pay double for the
magnets, contingent on some specific level of reduction in toxic
byproducts, we could surely have them. But then we'd surely be
supporting "yet another" ineffeciency or abuse, or ...
Surely the turbine manufacturers have already done the math, the
research... they know where else to get magnets at a higher price with
lower ecological impacts... but how do we tell them we want that? And
do we want that? I think *I* do.
On the other hand, I admit to wincing and whining every time I look at
my electric bill... "why does it have to be sooo expensive?" instead
of... "wow! I wonder what rivers had to be dammed, what high-sulfur
coal plants had to be fired, what nuclear risks had to be taken, what
pollution in Mongolia had to be exported for me to get as much power as
I feel like using at such a low price?" Of course not, I just want to
know where the "rest of my free lunch" is, I just want to resent those
who got me the first half of my free lunch and ignore the implications
of my wanting it.
I'm heartened when I read stories like this... but sadly, I think the
only solution is for us to pay more for what we want to. We want to
have our cake and eat it too. We want there to be funding to research
better/cheaper/less-polluting solutions, but we don't want to pay for it.
Right now, a great deal of the renewable/green sources of energy costs
more in our artificial economy... this exporting of pollution to
Mongolia from Britain (and the rest of the first world) is one of the
hidden prices of our desire for ubiquitous and inexpensive (and now
"green") energy.
I feel fortunate to get my electricity from a co-op which I can vote (or
even run) on board members who call the shots. I also feel fortunate to
live in a climate where I can heat my home by direct solar gain and
wood. I use more electricity than I need to, and I wince a little
every time I hear of something like this... and I might even turn off a
light bulb or change tactics to reduce my "parasitic loads".
My Co-op speaks of "green tags" (eh?) and they have a program for
members (customers) to pay a (small?) premium for more renewable power.
I don't know if these "tags" or if the "premium" takes into account
Neodymium mining pollution. I don't know if they people I can ask
know... but thanks to you Peggy, I think I will go sign up for the
premium "green" energy, and at least ask the question, offer to pay a
slightly higher premium if they can find a less toxic solution to
neodymium magnets, or ones from Mongolia or ...? Not sure... but there
is always a carpet where we sweep the details we don't want to think about.
http://www.tristategt.org/greenpower/ is a link to the source of the
"green" power my co-op uses.
- Steve
Here is link to the article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green-wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html
Peggy Miller
--
Peggy Miller, owner/OEO
Highland Winds
wix.com/peggymiller/highlandwinds
<http://wix.com/peggymiller/highlandwinds>
Shop is at 1520 S. 7th St. W. (Just west of Russell)
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406-541-7577 (home/office/shop)
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
